Ben and Lucy: The Sunken Kingdom
Chapter 8 Growler

The door burst open and a huge man stepped out from inside. The children stopped in their tracks. The man was even larger than Max. He towered at least seven feet tall, big broad shoulders and a fully grown red beard that had streaks of grey and white running through it. The man looked to Ben like a long lost Viking, maybe Eric the Red or someone directly from a book. His face told the story of his battles with scars across the checks and a nose that bent like a boomerang. Lucy froze.

“Ha, ha, Max. What have you brought home today?” The man bellowed in a loud thunderous voice.

Max barked out once again. “Ben and Lucy don’t be frightened of this old man. He is as gentle as a lamb. He does not possess the same magic as you two so he does not understand the animals around him.”

“Oh Max, stop barking. I can see the two little ones. “

“Hello you two. What are your names?” questioned the gigantic man. Ben and Lucy now stood a few feet from the giant. He towered over the them.

“We are uh, uh, Ben and Lucy sir.” mumbled Ben. His fear was in his throat as he spoke.

“What was that you said?”

Max barked again instinctively. “Ben and Lucy”

“Shut up Max, you know you can’t talk.” yelled the man.

“Sir, we are Ben and Lucy Henderson. Honored to meet you.” answered Lucy. She looked up at the giant with big blue innocent eyes. They instantly melted the big man’s heart. He paused for a moment to analyze the two before him. Finally he spoke.

“Well, well. You speak very well for such a small girl. I am Samuel Growlson, but most people just call me Growler.” bellowed the giant.

“Come inside. You are welcome. Anyone that Max brings home must be good, for Max can spot a rogue anywhere.” Growler opened his door and gestured for the children to enter.

“Mattie! We have guests.” Growler announced to someone still inside the house. As Ben and Lucy entered they observed that the size of the house finally hit them. As Growler size indicated this house had to match his stature. Ben looked up in awe and realized the doorway was well over nine feet high with an arched threshold. Ben was instantly hit with a full barrage of smells including that of cooking meat. “MMM, something smells good.” He could not hold his tongue.

“That be my wife’s cooking lad.”

“Mattie, come on out of that kitchen and meet the small ones.”

As Lucy entered the house after Ben, she looked up at the high ceiling. The room towered above her some thirty feet. A second floor was also in view off the opposite side of the front door. Huge wooden pillars rose from the floor with thickness of two feet supporting the upper floor. A solid wood railing provided separation from the upper rooms and the open vaulted ceiling above the living room where the children were now standing. On the wall to the left the fireplace rested. Made of huge stones rising the full height of the wall, the fireplace appeared to be as big as Charnac’s house itself. A brilliant blaze glowed from within its hearth. The air outside had starting to drop in temperature and this fire was good for the children. They began to warm back up. Ben and Lucy continued to look about the expansive room. It was filled with gigantic furniture. Everything in the room was similar to items back home, except all were giant sized and to Ben they looked right out of a medieval storybook.

“Well, hello my dears.” The sudden voice startled Ben and Lucy. Both turned quickly back in the opposite direction of the fireplace. What they saw was a huge women whose hair was aflame in red. Like her husband she too had that distinct look of a character from a storybook. Her hair was down around her shoulders in waves that seemed to billow out on their own. She was enchanting even if she did tower over the twins.

“Oh children, my I introduce my beautiful wife. Matilde.”

“Old man let our guests decide for themselves if I am beautiful.” Laughed the the towering women who stood almost as tall as her husband. Her warm smile and vibrant, loving eyes eased the children’s apprehensions.

“Hello Mattie” bark Max.

“Shoo now Max. Don’t frighten them.” Matilde apologized.

“She doesn’t understand me either, but they are sweet.” added Max before Growler grabbed his mane and began to rub his head. This shut Max up and the dog drifted into his own world closing his eyes and enjoying the pleasure of a good scratching.

“Now what brings such little creatures to our door?” questioned Matilde.

“We are on our way to see Eloise, the Queen of the Sunken Kingdom.” Answered Lucy.

“Eloise? She is a lovely lady. Met her once I did. She’s got style, but too ladylike for my taste.” added Growler.

“Now dear, don’t be mean.” Mattie interrupted.

“Yes dear, you are quite right. I just never trust a person who is too high and mighty, if you know what I mean”.

“Did you little ones eat already?” Mattie tried to change the subject.

“Oh no, mam. Could we have a little food, if it is not too much trouble.” Lucy asked politely.

“Trouble? Ha ha ha. I can’t think you would eat that much anyway. The old man and I were about to eat, you can join us.”

Max gave a quick moan.

“Ok, you too. You pack of fur.” Growler gave the dog a playful shove.

Ben gave Max a quick wink.

“So while my lovely wife gathers up the feast, how about you two tell me what brings you to our door. We don’t get much in the way of visitors, so this must be good. I also want to hear how you survived the great plains. Not to many make it through past the black death blooms.”

“ We had to hack our way through there.” Ben said proudly.

“With what, your hands? I don’t see any sword.” Questioned Growler.

“Uh, we dropped it as we ran away.” Lucy tried to cover.

“Aye, I see. Go on then tell me the rest of the story. Where do you come from?” Growler was curious about the two little travelers. He wondered where the rest of their party really was and if he had to be prepared for visitors. Friendly or not.

Ben and Lucy proceeded to retell their travel from their bedroom through the swirling air, to Parmesis, Charnac’s House, the flower trap until they met Max and that is where Growler stopped them.

“Well what a tale.” Not sure your parents will like you telling stories, but I kind of liked it. Especially the part where you came from another world. Ha Ha ha. Never heard about this place called New York before.” Growler chuckled at the kids’ little story.

Ben quickly stood up and responded in anger.

“We are NOT telling a story, we really ARE from another place.”

“Well Ben, if that is your name, I guess I will go along with this story. So why now are you traveling alone to see Eloise?”

Ben began to stammer, then Lucy jumped in.

“We are traveling to see Eloise because that was what Parmesis wanted us to do. He said he had been waiting for us. Some sort of prophecy or something about twins. Well we are twins and we come from a far a way land, so he thought we were destined to be here. We just want to get back home. This place is not nice and I miss mom and dad.” Lucy stopped suddenly before she burst into tears.

Growler remained quiet. He sat in his huge chair and then leaned back. He was thinking the story through. There was an old story he slightly knew when he was a younger lad that his old aunt used to recite to him. Now his doubts about the kids story was not whether they were making it up, but more about was this truly the story coming to life. Without saying a word he stood up and walked over to the front wall. There was a large cabinet that had remained closed the entire time Ben and Lucy were in the house. Now Growler opened the huge plain wooden doors and began to search inside.

As Growler searched inside the cabinet he began to discard its contents. As he continued to look, Ben and Lucy watched as items came forth. Bottles, jars, a wooden axe, odd tools with wooden handles. These reminded Lucy of her uncle’s blacksmith hobby collection. Her uncle Rufus had a strange collection of old tools that he always kept around. Lucy’s father had said that the his brother was crazy, but no one ever mentioned where the tools came from or why Uncle Rufus had them. Growler tossed a Screwdriver the size of a small baseball bat. It landed with a loud crash. Rope as thick as Ben’s arm flew next to Lucy. Finally Growler stopped.

“Ah hah. Here you are old friend.” Growler slowly and gingerly retreated from the cabinet. He was cradling something he obviously held dear.

“Okay you two, let’s see if you are close to the truth now.” Growler laid a huge old book out on his side table. Dust flew up in the air as the book landed. The huge man reached over and push all the other items lying on the table down on the floor. They crashed there with little attention from Growler. He pulled the lamp closer then he opened the book. Ben and Lucy both coughed at the smell the book emitted.

“Yes, it be old. Older than old Growler, as old as the hills, as they say.” He began to flip through the ancient pages, with each turn the mixture of musk and pine increased, the book was coming to life. Lucy thought of Christmas. Growler continued in his search, ignoring his guests. Ben and Lucy looked at each other. Their curiosity was growing with each page. Now Growler stopped shortly to read the page and then continued quickly to the next. “MMMM” was the only sound coming out of the giant. Anticipation filled the air. Max began to whine. Growler reached down quickly and patted his old friend on the head and scratched his ears. Still no word came forth. No one else dared to speak. A Giant concentrating is something to behold. Growler stopped on one page and read the details more intensely than before. “MMM, interesting”. Growler then turned his head upward to the ceiling, looking past the confines of the house, deeply in thought. Quickly he looked back at Ben and Lucy, studied them closely. He squinted his eyes at Lucy then back at Ben. Still no word was said. Then an outburst from Growler.

“Crescent Moon”

“Pardon Me?” Ben responded.

“Do you have a Crescent Moon?” Growler asked again.

“What?” Ben had no idea what Growler was talking about.

“Uh, are you speaking of a birthmark?” Lucy interrupted

“Mark of the Crescent Moon.”

“Yes, he does.” Lucy quickly replied.

“Your birthmark behind your ear Ben.” Lucy said with condescending.

“What birthmark?”

Before Ben could even think, Growler grabbed the boy and lifted him off his feet. The Giant man now held Ben off the floor with one arm and he searched first his left ear then his right. Growler stopped quickly. Frozen at the sight of the hidden birthmark which now was exposed to him.

Ben was the first to speak.

“Hey, can you let me down now? Lucy tell me what is going on. How did you know about my birthmark. I didn’t even know it was there.” Growler placed the boy back down and stood in silence.

“I had almost forgotten it, now with your hair always long.”

“So what is this all about? What does this mean Growler?” Lucy asked.

Growler did not speak at first. He reached back into the cabinet and pulled a jug out. He grabbed the cork with his teeth and opened the jar. The pungent smell of liquor filled the air. Growler took a deep swallow, grimaced as the liquid ran down his throat.

“Ah, that is better.” Growler then sat back down in his huge chair. He paused for a moment then began to speak.

“Well, I can’t really believe this. Your friend Charnac knows his lore.” Began Growler. “My dear little ones, I am so glad you stumbled your way to our doorstep.” Growler now genuinely showed his joy at meeting Ben and Lucy.

“Ok, where do I start?” Growler paused to think about his next words.

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?” questioned Ben.

“Oh, I guess that would be the easiest won’t it? Ok.” Growler paged through the massive book again on the table. Flipping the pages to the beginning of the book.

“This is the book my great grand aunt handed to me when I was a wee lad, about your size. Mind you at that time I was about four.” Chuckled Growler.

“Well, she died soon after that but my grandmother would tell me stories from the book. One story it seems is about you two. Now mind you this is believed to be just kids’ stuff. You know scary stories to keep the kids up at night. Ha ha ha.” Growler gave a nervous laugh.

“So what are we then? Two kids that stumbled their way to a giant?” Ben spoke sarcastically.

“Well no. This story is called The Twin Risings. Pretty heroic stuff, dangerous though.” Growler again paused.

“Dinner is served” Mattie had just finished the dinner she was cooking and as Ben and Lucy looked back toward the kitchen, she was carrying huge bowls with steaming food.

“Get off your butt old man and get the plates for our guests.”

“Yes dear on my way.” Growler quickly closed the book and pushed it back on the table, trying to conceal the fact that he even had the book open. He motioned both Ben and Lucy to keep quiet. The last thing he needed right now was a huge discussion with Matilde about the “Kids’” book. Matilde did not have any patience for that book stuff. She was more into being active and involved in music. To her, music was the lifeblood that kept one alive. Books were slow and for the elderly.

“When I can’t walk, then I will read a book.” She would say. “Now put the book away and let’s eat. I know the children must be hungry. I know that Max is. He is always hungry.” She reached down and patted the huge dog’s head.

Matilde placed the bowls of food on the table.

“Ben and Lucy can you help me get the plates?” asked Matilde. She directed them to follow her back into the kitchen, her long arms swallowing them up in the gentle canopy of giant warmth.

“Sure Ma’am”. answered Lucy.

Matilde guided them into the kitchen. As they entered the room, both children were amazed again by the sheer size of things. There in front of them was a huge wood stove, the fire was still smoldering inside.

“Over here you two. Take four of the smaller plates from that cabinet there.” She pointed to another simple wooden cabinet with heavy doors. As Ben opened the door it creaked loudly. Ben grabbed four plates. The plates were heavy and Ben almost could not handle the weight. He carried them back to the dining room table and placed them on the four playmates that were already there. Lucy was back in the kitchen gathering up the glasses.

“Oh dear, don’t worry about Growler’s, he already has his.” commented Matilde.

Lucy filled her arms with the glasses for Ben, Matilde, and herself and went to the dining room. Ben returned to the kitchen for the silverware. Matilde directed him to the cabinet once again and inside the cabinet was a single drawer. Ben opened it and found the forks, spoons, and knives. Once again the size was that of giant proportions. Once the table was set and the food was placed on the table the four began to eat.