Adam was only able to lift his sword up in time to block Maxine's oncoming attack. It would have struck close to his chest but with his sword in the right position the attack was successfully blocked. Rather than being annoyed that her attack didn't work Maxine seemed to smile as she unleashed a barrage of strikes.

Each of these strikes were being blocked by Adam but just barely. He was struggling but he could also tell that his oldest sister wasn't entirely trying to strike him. Instead she was more testing him than anything else. It wasn't until he felt a strong kick to his chest that sent him down to the ground. Like before he felt a sword come down near his throat and Maxine looming above him.

The impact of the kick had winded him but he didn't seem to notice too much as he could still see her staring down at him. She barely seemed to move for a moment before she removed her sword and helped him back to his feet. His weight wasn't much of a challenge for her.

"Your blocking has improved but you still leave yourself open," said Maxine. She could see that Adam was still catching his breath. "This time you're going to be the one attacking me, when you're ready of course."

"Y-Yes Maxine," replied Adam. He knew that if their mother was watching that she would have scolded Maxine for strike him in the manner that she did. However, he understood that it was all going towards his training. If she held back on him then he wasn't gaining the experience that he needed.

"If you lay a single successful blow on me then you win." She took several steps away from him and then turned to his direction. She still had the training sword in her hand but it had been lowered, seemingly leaving herself open. "Now come at me."

Adam darted forward and he considered trying some kind of quick attack but he knew that his sister was too good to be defeated by such a tactic. Instead he considered her weak point which right now was her chest. He knew all about the injury that she sustained there and that right now it was Achilles Heel.

With a small amount of care and some grace Adam tried to strike Maxine's chest but he soon discovered that her sword had come up in time to block it. This somewhat surprised him as he attacked several more times in the hopes of hitting his mark. Unfortunately, each time she was able to successfully block the strikes.

That was until she was able to parry one of his strikes which left him open for an attack. With little hesitation she used her sword to strike him in the arm, the impact was enough to leave a small bruise but did not serious harm him. It did cause him to give out a small sigh of pain before backing away.

"You lost your arm there," said Maxine. She took a few steps towards him but since this sparring round was over, he was in no danger of being struck by her. "Do you know what you did wrong there?"

"I was too slow with my attacks?" replied Adam. He had placed his sword down and was rubbing his arm where he had been struck. It was painful but the pain was something that would likely subside in a few minutes.

"That wasn't why you lost this round. You must adjust your tactics based on your opponent. Normally hitting somewhere high is the options when you wish to strike a vital area. However, against large opponents such as myself it is better to strike low. Striking high made it very easy for me to block but striking low would have made things a lot more difficult for me. Now once you're ready we'll try again and this time it will be standard sparring so don't expect to be on the offense all the time."

"R-Right." He knew that what she was saying was true but it still made him feel that he wasn't doing as well as he should. This annoyed him but he simply picked up his sword and indicated that he was ready.

As the sparring match began Maxine darted toward Adam and he quickly lifted his sword to block but no attack came. The attack seemed to be a dummy as she quickly went to strike near his chest. This caused him to lower his sword enough to block the attack, this seemed to impress her as she had not expected him to block. She smiled a little and she went for another attack but he was able to roll underneath it.

Adam thought that he had the advantage as he quickly got up to his feet and went to strike her leg. He didn't think that Maxine would block his strike and in a manner of speaking he was right. Instead he saw her move her large leg towards him as she kicked him so hard that it lifted him off the ground and sent him flying. He landed a few metres away and he was winded but he still had his sword in his hand.

Before he could fully recover, he saw her looming over him again and it looked like she was preparing to strike him once more. However, he still had enough bearing to be able to block the strike and get up to his feet. He was still out of breath and he thought that he had a chance but suddenly he felt her enormous hand around his neck.

With almost no effort Maxine lifted her older brother off the ground and held him up high. He was being choked and it was enough for him to drop his sword, as soon as this happened, he was put back down onto the ground so that he could properly try and regain his breath.

"W-Why did you do that?" asked Adam as he knew that he had lost the encounter once he had dropped his sword.

"Do what?" replied Maxine who stood there and looked at her brother. It was hard to imagine that there were only a few years age difference between them. It almost looked like an adult and toddler thanks to their size difference.

"You chocked me, how is that possibly going to help with my training?"

"Do you think your opponent will give you such benefits? Your opponent will likely use every tactic they can to win and that includes fighting dirty if need be. I only used what I had to my advantage."

"But it's not fair, you're huge and there's no way that I'll ever be as big or strong." He could see a flash of anger in his sister's eyes and for a moment he seemed to regret his comment.

"And what difference does that make?" Her voice was stern but it didn't sound entirely angry. She still seemed intimidating and it caused Adam to take a step back from her. "Father wasn't particularly tall or strong but he still became a knight through pure skill alone. And if you ever hope to do the same you need to keep practicing. Now don't let me hear you say anything otherwise."

"Y-Yes Maxine." Out of all of his sisters Maxine was the one that he feared the most, even though she was the one who couldn't change her size. Her intimidating presence was enough and whenever she made a point, she made sure to drill it in.

"Good, now go and get some breakfast, you can't train on an empty stomach." She too was hungry and did fancy having some breakfast herself. But this became a small dilemma for her, if she had breakfast prepared by her mother it would most likely taste awful. If she had it done by Carrie, she would likely taint it in some manner. In her mind it was going to be the lesser of two evils.

Meanwhile inside the house Charles had done what he was told and he found himself standing before Jessica. If it had not been the fact that he had seen Maxine he would have said that Jessica was the tallest woman that he had ever seen. From looking at her he could see where Maxine got her height from but he also thought that she was a very beautiful woman as well. Even though she was around forty her looks hadn't decreased in the slightest although she had gained a little weight since her years travelling with Sir Tucker. But she was sure that she would burn off the weight soon enough.

She was surprised when she saw Charles approach her, he had been inside of the kitchen when she came across him. For the moment she didn't know what he wanted but she also had her focus on something else. In her arms was baby Rina who had just been fed and now seemed to be happy. In her mind her baby was adorable but she was also a little sad as she knew that Rina was likely to be her last child.

"Excuse me ma'am," said Charles who was a little nervous. He knew that Jessica was calmer than Maxine but he feared that if he said anything wrong that he might get another clout on the back of his head.

"Please call me Jessica," replied Jessica with a warm smile on her face. This did make him feel more at ease with everything.

"Ok Jessica, Ms Maxine has asked me to help you out in anyway that I can. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure." She stood there in silence for a few moments until an idea did eventually pop into her head. "Actually, there is something that you could do for me if you wouldn't mind?"

"And what would that be?"

"Maxine told me that you were great at crunching numbers. Well we need to balance a few things financially and I was hoping that you'd be able to help us."

"S-Sure, I can take a look."

Within a couple of minutes Charles found himself sitting down at a table, he expected it to be some kind of giant table with elevated chairs but instead it was all normal. This meant that when Jessica or any of the women of the household stood by it, they made it look really small. He was also given a book with all the family's finances along with a pile of paperwork which showed money coming and out of the household.

For Charles it was a little overwhelming as he had to sort through the mountain of information and writing down what was necessary. When it came to combat, he would always be on the side lines but when it came to anything like this, he was more than capable of holding his own.

As he was working away, he seemed to be lost in his own little world and he didn't seem to notice the passage of time. He only stopped his work initially because when he saw a figure looming over him. At first, he thought that it was either Maxine or Jessica, however when he looked, he could see that it was neither.

The figure standing over him was Carrie who Charles remembered purposely put onions in Maxine's pie. Although she claimed to be innocent Maxine knew that it had been done deliberately. He wasn't sure why Carrie was here but he was sure to find out soon enough. He watched as she pulled up one of the chairs and sat down at it. Thanks to her extreme height she couldn't pull herself in properly. But she still looked at him and even gave him a smile, this was something that he hadn't expected.

"Charles isn't it?" asked Carrie. Her voice sounded calm and it also seemed like she was trying to be friendly.

"Yes, it is and if I'm not mistaken your name is Karen, right?"

"Actually, it's Carrie."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He felt embarrassed by this as he even had the name written down in his note book but he still said it wrong.

"It's alright, so you're Maxine's squire, aren't you?" She chuckled to herself. "She's not even a knight and yet she still thinks that she can have a squire." Charles didn't say anything to this as he knew that there was animosity between Maxine and Carrie and he preferred not to get in the middle of it.

"Yes, I am her squire, although she hasn't taught me any combat yet." He knew that traditionally squires were like apprentices to the knight but in his case, he was a servant more than anything else. "I just do what I can to help her out and make sure her finances are in order."

"So, she basically gives you the work that she is too lazy to do." She chuckled a moment to herself. "That's just like her. Anyway, I just wanted to know a little more about you, since not many people stop here."

"There's not much to say about myself recently. My family is nothing special and if it wasn't for your sister, I'd probably be missing a few teeth right now. But your family is like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Well the Martels are a unique family. It's just a shame that we couldn't be higher in the social standings." She gave a sigh. "If I'm ever going to marry a lord I'd have to be known as more than the daughter of some farmers."

"Sometimes it can be best to remember where you came from. But there is something I am wondering if you don't mind me asking. You can grow like your sisters, can't you? I saw your sister Jane stretch up tall enough to reach a cat in the tree. Can you do something like that?"

"Of course." She seemed quite proud of herself as she spoke. "In fact, out of all of my sisters I can grow the tallest. If you were impressed by Jane then you'll be completely blown away by me."

"I wouldn't be too surprised." He went to go back to his work but he saw Carrie shift her chair closer towards him.

"I've also been told that you're in some kind of relationship with Maxine. Funny though since I was sure that she was gay."

"Oh, we're in no kind of romantic relationship at all." He began to become a little nervous as the tall woman seemed to be insinuating something that a few had done before. "Our relationship is a business one so to speak."

"You don't have to lie to me, I can see why some men would go for her. Even though in my mind it is freaky, but then again I can't really speak in that area." She shifted closer towards him and she seemed uncomfortably close to him. Like Maxine, Carrie's extreme height made Charles look small in comparison. "You know there's a perfectly good woman waiting here, maybe later we can..."

"What are you doing?" asked a relatively loud and angry voice. This was when both of them looked over and saw Maxine standing a short distance away. She seemed to be annoyed as she glared down at Charles being uncomfortably close to her sister.

"Ms Maxine," replied Charles who was surprised. He could see what the situation looked like and this made him very scared. "It's not what it looks like."

"Carrie, you have work that you need to do. I suggest that you go and do it." She watched as Carrie got up from her chair and she seemed to be happy with what had happened. There was a small smile on her face as she walked out of the room. She walked by Maxine and although there was a six-inch height difference between the two it didn't seem to be that much in comparison.

With Carrie gone Maxine's focus was completely on Charles. He felt very intimidated as he knew that the situation looked bad on his part. Her annoyed expression didn't seem to change and he was sure that she was going to do something to him.

"Ms Maxine I..." said Charles before he was interrupted by the giant woman standing before him.

"We need to have a little talk in private," replied Maxine. Her tone hadn't changed and for Charles it almost reminded him of when he was in trouble as a child. He did feel her large hand come down on the back on his neck. This made his heart skip a beat but he still got up from his chair.

Maxine led Charles away from the table that he had had been working at and led him to the room where they had slept in together. When they arrived, she made sure that the door was closed behind them and she looked down at her normal sized squire. He couldn't help but feel some fear from her. She was also positioned right in front of the door so that he had no escape route as well.

"Just what the hell were you doing back there?" asked Maxine in a very annoyed tone. She did make sure to keep her voice down so that she couldn't be heard by anyone else. Her glare cut right through him.

"Ms Maxine," replied Charles with genuine fear in her voice. "I can explain."

"Then you better get explaining. I didn't bring you to my family home so that you could try and fuck my sister." He thought that she was going to strike him and with how strong she was he knew that there was a chance that it could kill him.

"I-I was just doing some paperwork like your mother had asked me to. Then your sister came over to me and started talking like she wanted to sleep with me. Ms Maxine, you have to believe me, I would never do such a thing to you." He was still afraid and he backed away, but with each step he took she would take a step closer to him. "Just don't hurt me ma'am, I'm begging you."

Charles could see Maxine's hand coming down towards him and he thought that she was going to strike him. However, it was merely her hand being placed on his shoulder. This caused him to look up to her and she gave out a sigh as she began to shake her head. He didn't know whether he should be relieved or worried.

"That doing it again," said Maxine. Her voice seemed calmer but it was still annoyed. Charles watched as she took a few steps away from him and then punched one of the walls nearby. A small crack did develop where she had punched and she felt some pain from her fist, it was obvious that she had hurt it but the injury didn't seem to be serious.

"A-Are you alright ma'am?" asked Charles who did show some concern for her. Even though he had been terrified just a few moments ago.

"I'm fine." She held onto her hand in an attempt to soothe the pain. She looked at her squire and gave another sigh. "Did Carrie ask you whether we were in some kind of romantic relationship at all?"

"She thought that we were but I told her that we weren't. But then she started coming onto me and that's when you turned up. I'm sorry ma'am, please don't think I was going to do anything to her."

"I know, I believe you. Shortly before I left here to become a knight, I began having a relationship with a local man. We had known each other for some years and after some time I'd worked the courage to begin a romantic relationship with him. Much to my surprise he actually said yes, even though I'm like..." She gave another sigh as she gestured towards herself. "This, anyway we had been seeing each other for a few weeks until I caught Carrie seducing him. What was worse was the fact that he was accepting her seductions. It was one of the reasons why I left here."

"What happened to this man that you were dating?"

"It was simple, I broke up with him right after I broke his hand." Charles chuckled as he thought that she was joking about the last part. From the look on her face she was being very serious. "And because Carrie can enlarge herself and I can't she sees this as the ultimate defence against me. But I swear that one of these days I'm going to knock all of those pretty teeth out of her mouth!"

"If you don't mind me asking, why does she do these things to you? I noticed how she spoke to you and purposely placed some onion into your pie. It seems like there is something between you two."

"As long as I can remember we've been at each other's throats. For years I had the advantage since I was the bigger sister but when she began being able to grow in size then she thought that she was in charge. Since then things like this have been happening, you could say that she's trying to show her dominance. In a manner of speaking she has gotten what she wants since I haven't been around."

"So, it is a form of sibling rivalry? I can understand that but from what I can see between you and your sister it is more extreme than that."

"It is, but you don't need to worry about it. If you see Carrie again do acknowledge her if need be but don't accept her advances at all. If she throws a hissy fit then I'd suggest that you make yourself scare."

"Yes ma'am."

With the conversation done for the time being Charles was allowed to return to the paperwork that Jessica had asked him to sort through. Maxine chose to help out in the fields as for the time being it was the best place for her talents. Other members of her family were already at work including her father Sir Tucker who was tending to some of the animals. He seemed to be alright but his family knew that wasn't entirely the case.

Around three years before he had fallen off a horse and injured his back. Although he had more or less healed from the injury it was not like it was before. Over the years it was slowly getting worse and his family feared that eventually he wouldn't be able to walk. Despite this he still tried to help around the farm and raise his children right.

Sir Tucker's duties as a knight were more or less non-existent as his injury prevented him from entering into combat. With some reluctance he accepted the fact that his days of being a true knight were over, but he still had his title and memories of his deeds when he truly felt like a knight.

One thing that he did take some pride in was the fact that Maxine was carrying on his legacy and most likely so would Adam when he came of age. He knew that both would do well in the field and he thought that it was only a matter of time before both of them were knighted. Even though knighting a woman was practically unheard of in Angleland.

For the time being Maxine's job was to milk some of the cows that the family owned. It had been a while since she had last done this task but she didn't forget how to as she began to squeeze the milk into a bucket. She also remembered not to use too much of her strength so that she didn't accidentally harm the cow.

The cow in question remained calm throughout all of this as she was more than used to this happening. She had been born on this farm and she knew nothing about the world outside of it. She had also known Maxine for a number of years and felt calm around her as she knew that this giant woman meant her no harm.

Just as Maxine continued to work, she felt something strike her back. It wasn't anything hard but instead it almost felt like a very small person was trying to hug her. She had been sitting down and milking the cow when she felt the impact and when she turned to look, she saw her youngest brother Jaime who was hugging her. This had caught her by surprise but she turned and looked at him. He had a smile on his face and she couldn't help but crack a smile as well, she always had time for her baby brother.

"Jaime what are you doing out here?" asked Maxine who knew that this wasn't really a place for him to be running around.

"I wanted to see you," replied Jaime. His speech was a little quicker than she could fully understand. "And mommy is asleep and won't play with me."

"Oh, I see, unfortunately I can't play with you right now. But when I'm finished then I'll play with you alright?"

"But I wanna play with you now." It looked like Jaime was about to get upset, normally she wouldn't have time for such things and simply force him away. But since he was her younger brother, she knew that she couldn't just do that. There was also the fact that their mother would be unhappy with them if she upset him.

"I'll tell you what, why don't I teach you how to milk a cow? Would you like me to show you how it's done?"

Jaime nodded his head at her and she moved herself so that she could bring him closer to the cow. For the next several minutes she showed her little brother how to milk a cow. Although he was only small, she kept her hands around his so that it seemed like he was doing the work. In actual fact it was who was applying the pressure and ensuring that the milk was being poured out.

This didn't matter to Jaime as he thought that it was him that was doing this. It made him happy and Maxine could hear his chuckles. The age difference between them almost made them like mother and son rather than brother and sister.

"Yay, I'm milking a cow," said Jaime with joy in his voice.

"You sure are Jaime," replied Maxine. "Now we have to do this for a little longer until we have all the milk that we need."

"Can't we keep going until we have a hundred buckets of milk?" This caused Maxine to chuckle.

"That would be nice but cows can't make that much milk at one time. Maybe if it was a really, really big cow then we could."

"Like mommy?"

Maxine paused for a moment and she couldn't help but laugh at what Jaime had said. She knew that he didn't really know what he meant with that last statement but the most important thing was that he was happy. And he was learning something that would likely help him in life.