6

Ben Meets The Spider Wizard

Ben couldn’t see Lox at first and he wasn’t sure if he should say the rhyme. If he said it and then Lox didn’t come, he’d have wasted a turn. He leaned against one of the big trees. Suddenly he felt something tickling his ear. Lox was hanging from a cobweb just above him!

‘Ready Ben?’ Lox asked. ‘Come on, do what you need to do and then we can go.’

Ben took a deep breath, then said the rhyme and did the actions. He had the same dizzy feeling that he’d had before, and he sat down quickly. After a moment he felt fine. He stood up and realised that the grass was now taller than him. He’d done it. He’d made the rhyme work!

Lox and Ben went under the hedge towards the spider gate, but before they went in Ben tied the end of the yellow wool around a low branch. Lox looked at him a bit strangely, but he didn’t say anything until the guards had let them through the gate.

‘Stay close to me,’ he said. ‘You’ll find our world very different from yours, but I’ll keep you safe.’

Ben could hardly see in the cave, so he took out his torch. Lox told him to keep his hand over the beam so that he didn’t frighten the other spiders. Ben followed Lox through a long tunnel that he guessed was under the lane at the back of his garden. Then they went down a slope. In front of them were seven openings, and Lox scuttled through the middle one. Ben followed, remembering to unwind the wool as he went.

He was becoming used to the dim light and he could just about see some shapes in the side passages. He could hear a lot of rustling noises and it made him feel a little bit afraid, so he hurried to keep up with Lox. After a while the spider stopped.

‘This is the wizard’s room,’ Lox said. ‘I’ll go and fetch him and he can explain everything to you. The queen will be listening, but she’ll only meet with you if you can find the ingredients. Wait here!’

He ran through a hole at the back of the room. Ben looked around and shivered. He’d been all right when Lox was there, but he didn’t feel so brave now. It felt as though there were lots of eyes watching him, but he couldn’t see anyone at all. He felt a light touch on his sleeve and he jumped.

‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Are you Ben?’ A big spider was right next to him. ‘I’ve heard so much about you, and how you helped with the spider gate. I hoped I could meet you in person. I’m Spindra. The queen’s sister.’

Ben jumped back. He really was afraid now. This was the spider who was supposed to have stolen the wizard’s ingredients. She moved closer to him and began to pull gently at the yellow wool.

‘Pretty,’ she said. ‘It would be good for spinning. It’s so tiring having to make all my own.’

She pulled a little harder and started to wind the wool around two of her legs. Ben knew that she must have untied it, or bitten through it at the spider gate. He tried to tug the wool away but she hissed at him, so he dropped the ball and ran. He didn’t know where he was going, but he wanted to get away from Spindra as quickly as he could.

He went up one passageway but it was a dead-end. He went back and tried again. Another dead-end. He could hear something behind him, and he was just about to run again when he tripped over a tree root. He felt the adder stone dig into him as he fell, so he took it out and held it in front of one eye.

Through the hole in the stone he could see that there was a bright yellow cobweb all across the opening of the passageway in front of him. If he’d run into it he would have been trapped. When he took the stone away from his eye, he couldn’t see the web. Gran had been right – the stone was magic! He shone his torch at the web and he could see Spindra watching him. Ben waved the torch at her and she ran away. When he stood up, Lox was behind him.

‘Come on,’ the spider said. ‘It’s all right now. Just follow me. The wizard’s waiting.’

They ran back to the wizard’s room. Ben was amazed at the colours all over the spider’s back. There was a silver star, a gold moon and lots of red and green spots. The wizard was bigger than Lox but he wasn’t scary at all. He told Ben to sit down on the floor.

‘Thank you for coming,’ he said. ‘I know this must be very strange for you, but I can only go outside at night, and we knew that you wouldn’t be able to meet me then. Lox has explained the problem to you?’ Ben nodded. ‘Good. Then this is what I need.’

He began to list the things he wanted for the magic potion, but Ben couldn’t keep up.

‘Wait,’ Ben said. ‘Please can you talk more slowly? Can I write these things down so that I can remember them?’

The wizard agreed and began again. ‘I need seven petals from the Fairy Wing Flower, seven leaves from the Dragon’s Breath Fern, and seven tears from a true friend. You can see what the plants look like in my potions book here, and how to keep them fresh when you’ve collected them. You can catch the tears in this tube.’ He passed it to Ben. ‘You must collect them all in the same week. The prince is very ill and I can’t keep him alive for much longer.’

‘How much time do I have?’ Ben asked.

‘Tonight there will be a full moon,’ the wizard said. ‘You have until the next full moon. After that it will be too late. Lox will take you back and answer any more questions for you. Goodbye Ben, and good luck.’

When they were back at the gate and the guards had let them through, Ben asked Lox if he knew how much time there was between the full moons. Lox wasn’t sure and told Ben to ask his gran. He waited until Ben had said the rhyme and was big again and steady on his feet. Then he said he’d come to see Ben on the following Saturday.