As he had been informed, Charles walked along the path that led away from Morgan and towards Flea Bay that was still some distance away. He was glad that he was only going to walk a fraction of the distance to that coastal town as he only needed to get to the tavern that was close by.
Along the way he couldn't help but think, from what he had been told Maxine was not in the happiest of states. Because of this he would have to be very careful with what he did or said. The wrong word might lead him to losing a few teeth although he didn't think that she would do such a thing to him. But in her angered state it was likely that she wasn't going to be thinking straight.

Before long Charles began to approach a building that stood besides the path. It was just a single building, sitting by itself but it looked a little too large to be someone's home. As he stepped closer, he looked at it and he could see the words 'The Spinster's Wheel' placed above the door. It was the name of the tavern that he had been looking for and wasting no time he entered the building.

When he walked inside, he could see that the tavern itself looked similar to the one that he had worked at. This brought back some less than pleasant memories for him but right now that wasn't important. He could see many patrons sitting at tables and drinking. Most were having a laugh with one another while they enjoyed their ale.

For a moment it was difficult for Charles to notice Maxine which he thought was odd. He didn't think it would be difficult to pick out a woman who was nine feet tall. That was until he looked close to the bar where the tavern keeper was standing. Sitting at the bar was a familiar looking tall and muscular woman with long red hair. Not only that but she was drinking from a small barrel of ale.

It seemed like Maxine hadn't noticed him at first but as he walked toward her. One thing that he did notice was that she was lacking her sword, it seemed that in her frustration she had simply forgot to bring it along with her. To her it didn't matter as she was continuing to down the ale that she had gotten.

In a way she was a little jealous of the other patrons, it took significantly less ale for them to feel the effects. For her she would need to down enough to kill a man, just to feel the slightest bit tipsy. That was one disadvantage to her large size and body's metabolism, something that she just had to deal with.

One thing that Charles did notice was that Maxine was still muddy. She had not bothered to clean herself up before she had come here and, in a way, it showed him how annoyed she was. He knew that if she had been in a calm state of mind that she would have cleaned herself up, the fact that she hadn't only added more worry to his mind

"M-Ms Maxine," said Charles as he finally approached her. He stood next to her rather than sitting down and he watched as her eyes looked at him. He could see the frustration behind them and it made him almost back away.

"Why are you here Charles?" replied Maxine. Her voice was unusually calm and he didn't know if he should be glad or afraid of this. He also watched as she placed the barrel to her lips and knocked it back in order to drink more of it. She still needed both of her hands to lift it but even for her it was large.

"Your father sent for me, he is worried about you ma'am."

"His worry is misplaced, I'm fine." She placed the barrel down and looked over to the tavern keeper. "Another!"

"With all due respect ma'am but you're not." This brought her attention fully back onto him and she looked very angry. He thought about stepping back but he thought that he had to do what needed to be done.

"You dare talk back to me like that! I should have your tongue for such a thing!" He was glad that he had her attention but he thought that he might have made a mistake. Despite this he knew that backing away wasn't going to help.

"I'm just saying that you can't just drink your problems away with ale. You need to confront your problems and work through them ma'am. Isn't that something that a knight would do?" This seemed to get her blood boiled a little as she glared at him, she could see that he was trying to use her wants and dreams to make her think like he was.

"I don't have any problems." She said this more in the lines of that she didn't want to talk about it, rather denying it to herself.

"That isn't true." He took a step closer to her but he made sure not to do anything that might cause her to strike him. "You have a problem with your sister, you've even admitted it yourself. You can stay here and drink all of the ale that you want but it won't solve anything."

"I will do as I please. Remember your place, you are my squire and are required to do anything and everything that I tell you to do without question. Right now, I'm not going to ask you, I'm telling you to go back to the farmhouse and await my return. Now go before I decide to force you."

"No ma'am." He almost couldn't believe that he had said this himself. Almost instantly he thought that he had made a mistake as he watched Maxine stand up from her seat and tower above him. All of her rage and frustration seemed to be focused on him and she looked as though she was going to kill him.

"You dare defy my orders!" Her voice was so loud that everyone in the tavern could hear her. This caused everyone who had been enjoying their drinks to suddenly fall silent and their attention turned to the nine-foot woman. "I should knock every tooth out of your mouth for such defiance!"

"Please ma'am, calm down." He put his hands up a little to try and calm her down but he realised that this was probably one of the worst things he could have done.

"You do not tell me what to do!" Her hand raised up as if she was going to strike him. This time it didn't look like a slap around the head but something that would cause a lot of damage.

"Ma'am, you can strike me if you want but it won't change anything." The fact that he wasn't backing down did surprise Maxine. "If it'll make you feel better than do what you need to do. I won't resist."

Charles stood there as he expected Maxine to strike him, in his mind a few lost teeth and a broken bone or two would be what he expected. He even closed his eyes as he didn't want to see the blow coming. Next, he heard a loud slamming sound but he was surprised to feel no pain whatsoever. This caused him to begin to open his eyes and he could see that she had struck her fist into the bar where her barrel of ale was located. The wood had cracked around where her fist had impacted the bar and he could see the frustration in her face.

Not only that but as she lifted her fist from the bar, they could both see blood dripping from it. This caused everyone in the tavern to become shocked and a few of the patrons even began to make their way outside. They saw the damage that she had been able to do and they didn't want to get on the wrong end of her punch.

Maxine lifted her injured hand in front of her face and looked at it. She seemed to be annoyed by what had happened and she looked down at Charles. Despite what she had done he hadn't backed away from her. She wanted to believe that what he had said to her was nothing but lies and misconceptions. However deep down he knew that everything that he said was true. She was just too proud to admit it herself and wanted to believe that nothing could truly bother her.

"Do you need medical attention Ms Maxine?" asked Charles who was quite concerned about her. From the look of her hand it looked as though she had only cut it but he knew that there was a good chance of it being a serious injury.

"I'm fine," replied Maxine. Her voice was quieter than it was before but there was still a lot of anger behind it. "Just order me another drink and we'll talk."

"Yes ma'am." This was a big step forward for him. It meant that Maxine wanted to talk about her problems. This was the most he could have hoped for and meant that his words had gotten through to her.

The Tavern Keeper was not too far away. He wasn't too happy with the damage that had been done to his bar but he was not prepared to argue over it with the giant woman. Instead he picked up another small barrel of ale and brought it over to her. Charles was sure to pay the money that was needed. In his mind everything was going well, one thing he hadn't fully noticed was that there weren't many people left inside. Most had gone to a safe distance when they could see her rage peaking.

As Maxine drank the barrel of ale she seemed to be calming down. This was always a good thing in Charles's mind it was much easier to talk to someone who was calm than if they were enraged. He could still see the anger in her eyes but at least he was making a small amount of progress.

"Maxine Martel!" said a loud and angry voice. This seemed to catch the attention of both of them and as they looked toward the entrance of the tavern, they could see three men standing there.

Each of the men were larger than Charles and wore light armour. Each had a sword in their possession, one thing that was odd about them was that the men looked similar to one another. Each had the same black hair and brown eyes, the largest of the men was over six feet tall and had a fairly large frame.

Their sudden appearance caused any other patrons to make a fairly hasty escape while even the Tavern Keeper decided to duck down behind the bar. All he could do was hope that this confrontation wouldn't cause too much damage to his establishment. He was still paying off for what happened the last time his tavern was the centre of a brawl.

"Don't say anything and keep your head down," said Maxine quietly to Charles. This was one of the times that he wasn't going to argue as he knew that he would only get in the way if he tried to help her.

"Fancy you coming back to a place like this," stated the armoured Man in the middle. Maxine knew exactly who he was. His name was Kenneth Strong and standing beside him were his two younger brothers Roger and Edward. "I was beginning to think that we wouldn't have the chance to catch up with you again."

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you." Her focus was squarely on the three brothers. All three of them were at least ten years older than her but she was far larger. "Just say what you want and leave me alone."

"The problem is with that is that last time we met you broke Edward's hand and he didn't particularly like that." He pointed his thumb to the largest of his brothers who only grumbled and didn't say a word. "Even though that was a year ago he's still pretty sore about the whole event."

"He mocked my father, he's lucky that I didn't break his spine." She took a drink from her barrel. Not only did she do this to quench her thirst but to also keep an eye on where Charles was. Like she had told him he was ducking behind the bar where he was currently keeping his head down. If he remained there then she wouldn't have to worry about protecting him in things went downhill.

"Even so it wouldn't be proper if we let something like that just slide by. We Strong Brothers have a reputation to keep."

"You'd need a reputation first to be able to keep."

"Ha, very funny but let's cut the shit, shall we?" All three of the brothers drew out their swords and pointed them at the very large woman. "We're here to fuck up your day, clean and simple."

"My day is already fucked." She began to step towards the three brothers. Much to their surprise Maxine showed no fear toward them, even though she was unarmed. "Putting the three of you in your place will make me feel a lot better."

Edward was the first to try his luck as he stormed toward Maxine with his blade in his hand and the intention of harming her however, he could. This didn't get very far as he felt a very large foot come into contact with chest and it sent him tumbling back. Not only had her kick stopped his attack but also severely winded him. It would take a good minute or so before he could even consider continuing the fight.

Seeing their brother go down fairly easily caused them to dart towards her quickly. They knew that attacking her one at a time was pointless. A co-ordinated attack was the only way that they had a chance of taking this giant woman down. They knew all about her family and how her sisters could grow in size. But they also knew about Maxine's pride, she wouldn't go to them for help as she would be steadfast on dealing with something like this herself.

Kenneth and Roger both swung their swords at Maxine at the same time. One swung high and the other swung low as they hoped to at least strike her but she simply jumped back in order to dodge the attack. This continued on as the two brothers tried to strike her with their sword but she continually dodged them. A few strikes came close but none of them actually struck her body.

Normally thanks to her heavy armour Maxine would be forced to block more times than dodging. Her armour would weigh her down and make it more difficult to move, the fact that she wasn't wearing it now made her much lighter on her feet. She was moving much faster than one would expect for her size.

However, Edward did recover from the previous attack and he too joined his brothers. This made things more difficult for Maxine as she knew that the numbers were against her. If she didn't end this quickly, she could begin to tire and run into trouble. She couldn't afford an injury and so she wanted to end this encounter quickly.

An opening presented itself as Roger stepped too close to Maxine. Before he knew it, he felt her large hand around his neck and he was effortlessly lifted off the ground. The next thing he knew he was sent flying into Edward like a cannonball. Neither brother could move out of the way of the other as they slammed into each other hard. It was enough to knock them both out and completely take them out of the fight.

Kenneth was the only one of the Strong Brothers left. He knew that he was in trouble and the thought of fleeing did overtake him. But before he could turn and run, he felt a strong punch to the face take him down to the ground. To him it felt like he had been struck by a battering ram as he watched Maxine squat down to him.

Soon Kenneth felt another punch to the face, then another, then another, then another. Punches were raining down on him and even when he fell unconscious the punches didn't stop. Despite the fact that Maxine and won the encounter she still didn't end the attack; her frustration was being focused on him and in her mind punching him was the same as punching Carrie.

The attack only stopped when she felt something grab onto her wrist as she was about to punch again. She turned her head and could see Charles who had ventured out of his safe place. He had a look of concern on his face as he saw the raw anger that was radiating from her body.

"Ms Maxine," said Charles in a respectful tone. "Please, no more."

Maxine looked at the face of Kenneth and she could see that it was a complete mess. It was heavily bruised and was even beginning to swell. His nose was broken and he had several teeth missing. There was a wheezing sound coming from him as he was struggling to breathe and it seemed that he would never fully recover from his injuries.

As she thought about what had happened, she couldn't help but feel ashamed. She had allowed her pride and anger get the better of her and it resulted in this current event. One thing that she could take some comfort in was the fact that taking on the Strong Brothers had allowed her to vent some of her frustration. But in the end in changed nothing and if anything, the brothers now had more reason to hate her.

Fairy quickly Maxine stood up to her full height and Charles let go of her arm. He didn't know what she was going to do and he could only wait and see. If anything came his way, he wasn't sure if he would be able to protect himself. But something inside him told him that he wouldn't have to worry about this.

"Pay the Tavern Keeper for my drinks and any damage," said Maxine who had noticed the gold that was being carried by her squire. "We're done here." Her voice was surprisingly calm after everything that had happened.

"Yes ma'am," replied Charles who just wanted to get out of there before anyone else showed up who wanted to harm her.

Within a couple of minutes both Maxine and Charles began to make their way back towards the farmhouse. There was nothing but silence as they walked, on more than one occasion he wanted to ask her something but he kept his mouth shut instead. He could only imagine what was going through her mind.

For Maxine with everything that had just happened there was only one emotion that she was truly experiencing. That was shame, she felt that she had done things that a knight would never do. It was experiences like this that made her believe that she wasn't ready to be declared a knight yet. Her problem was that she didn't know whether she would be able to work her way passed her shortcomings. If she couldn't then she didn't believe that she deserved such a title.

"Thank you, Charles," said Maxine who had stated this more or less out of the blue. This caught her squire by surprise who quickly looked up at her. His neck had gotten a strain at first with looking up at her. Now he was more used to it and it didn't bother him like it had before.

"For what ma'am," replied Charles who was somewhat confused.

"For making me see sense, if you hadn't of been there, I'd either still be drinking myself silly or killing that bastard. I tried to intimidate you and that is something that I shouldn't have done. You are my squire and I should be one of the last people you should fear and for that I'm sorry."

"It's alright ma'am, you had a lot on your mind. I just wanted just carrying out your father's wishes. Besides, I can never truly be afraid of you since we're friends."

"What?" This caught her by surprise as she didn't expect him to say that. "You think of me as a friend?"

"Of course, we travel together, dine together, sleep together. We've been through a lot on our travels and I've helped you just as much as you've helped me. If that's not what a friend is then I don't know what is."

Maxine looked at him for a moment and he could see him smiling up at her. She wasn't sure exactly what to do but she was surprised to hear him consider her as a friend. In her life she hadn't had too many friends, even when it came to Gregory, they had more of a working relationship rather than a true friendship.

She couldn't help but feel a little touched by what Charles had said. He might still be in her debt but it was like it didn't entirely matter anymore. But all these thoughts were dashed when she saw that they were approaching the farmhouse. The memories of what happened a short while ago were still there. A small amount of fear was felt within her body but she carried on walking anyway.

It was also beginning to get late as evening approached and both of them knew that it would be dark shortly. Despite Maxine's great size it was always best to not be on the roads during the night. There were many undesirables out at that time and it was best to avoid them if they could.

Eventually the pair were just outside of the farm. Maxine could feel her heart beating inside of her chest. She refused to be afraid of her sister but she knew that something needed to be done as soon as she went inside. Since her father was the one who had asked Charles to retrieve her from the tavern it meant that he was doing something more important. She felt that she was going to find out once she ventured inside.

Charles could pick up that there was something not quite right with Maxine as they approached the door. He looked up to her and he could sense the slightest hint of fear from her. If she was afraid, he thought that it would be something that he would have to worry about.

"Is everything alright ma'am?" asked Charles. He watched as she opened the door and gave a large sigh. The door itself was relatively small in comparison to her but she looked through it and ducked down to get inside.

"Let's get this over with," stated Maxine as she prepared for whatever happened next.