When all the breakfasts had been eaten and everyone was prepared the trio stepped out of the inn and they weren't sure if they'd ever see it again. One important thing that they did stock up on was water as it would be important on their journey. The innkeeper had given it to them for free and this was something that Charles was particularly thankful for, it meant that he didn't have to worry about another finance. One thing that they had noticed was that the rain had subsided for now. They knew that they couldn't count on it being gone for very long.

Gregory made his way toward the stables that were located just outside of inn and it held the horses that belonged to the patrons. His horse was a somewhat majestic looking creature that was about average size and had a brown coat. There was a small white streak on its head and this made stand out a little. He had named the horse; Thunder and they had been together for a few years now.

It was common for knights and other armoured such folks to ride on horseback. This had been something that was simply impossible for someone like Maxine. She was simply too large for any horse. If she had sat on it without her armour it might just be able to carry her but with the armour she was likely to break its back.

Since Charles was a relatively small man Gregory offered to having him ride Thunder alongside him. Charles accepted the offer only after he had the approval of Maxine. He thought that she might refuse but she was more than willing to allow him to along with it all. With him on Thunder it would mean that she wouldn't have to slow down her pace at all. Thunder might need to slow down a little himself but it would likely be faster travelling in general.

Charles wasn't sure about how to climb onto a horse as it was something that he had never done before. This problem was soon solved as he felt Maxine's large, iron-clad hands wrap onto his sides and she effortlessly picked him up as if he were a child. She then carefully placed him down onto Thunder's back and made sure that he was on properly. He did place his hands around Gregory which the knight like man found to be fairly humorous. He could tell that Charles had never ridden a horse before.

With everything now sorted they began their journey which would likely take a full day. It was to a small town that was called Teasel. Gregory knew the way and he took the reins of Thunder and directed the horse in the right direction. Maxine followed close by but even on horseback he was still shorter than her. It was something that he had seen more than once but he always found it a little funny.

"Is there anything else that we need to know?" asked Maxine although she thought that it was a little late to ask.

"Well the people of Teasel are a little on edge," replied Gregory. "If they see someone with a sword they might think that you're a bandit. They've been causing a lot of trouble and to tell you the truth I'm surprised that they haven't moved on yet. Would make more sense for them to travel around."

"But if they think they'll have an easy target they'll simply keep striking again and again. What's the point in finding a new source when you already have one that's low risk and high reward?"

"You do have a point there. But there is one other catch to this, we need to ensure that they don't come back. It's all good fending off an attack but if they simply return when we're gone then the town will be back to where they were before."

"So, I'm guessing that they want us to kill and maim the bandits. So that they're incapable of causing more trouble."

"That's about the gist of it. I know that you have standards when it comes to killing. The whole no killing of defeated or unarmed enemies." To some knights such a thing was a little silly but to Maxine it was a set of rules that she would unlikely break unless it was the most extreme of circumstances.

"It is not merely a standard but something that should be a rule. How can you call yourself a knight if you lack mercy or honour?"

"I guess you're right there." He turned his head to Charles who was still holding onto him. "Are you alright back there?"

"Y-Yeah," replied Charles. "It's just my first-time riding on a horse." He was a little nervous as he thought that he be thrown off at any moment. He kept a good grip on Gregory but made sure that it wasn't too tight.

"Well there's a first time for everything. Like last week was the first time I've ever been with one of those foreign women. You know, the kind that have been popping up on the East Coast? Our women know how to give a man a good time, but them, they're in a completely different league."

Charles was familiar with the people that Gregory was talking about. They were from a land far to the East of Angleland. Those spoke an odd language and many of the locals were distrustful of them. Their culture and looks were alien to the locals and they were finding it hard to adjust.

There were several rumours about why the foreigners had come to Angleland. Some said that it was because they wanted to take over the land or at least take its natural resources. Charles knew better than to believe such rumours. There were more accurate rumours that they had fled some kind of natural disaster or civil war.

Some people did fear these foreigners and because of this some establishments banned them from entering the premises. The work that they were able to get were normally dangerous or degrading jobs. The kind that the locals didn't want to do themselves, instead allowing the foreigners to do them instead.

Charles wasn't the only one to think about them. When Gregory had spoken about them Maxine had been thinking as well. She had met a handful of them and like the locals she had found them to be a little odd. A part of her didn't really care why they had come to Angleland in the first place. To her they were simply there and nothing more to it than that.

The hours of the journey went by with little to nothing of any real interest. They took a couple of breaks to rest and eat. Gregory made sure that Thunder was well fed and looked after. He knew that if he mistreated his horse that it would likely fail him when he needed it the most.

Looking upon the horse Maxine couldn't help but think back to the farm that her family lived. There were horses there that helped out with the work but none of them were really for riding. They were to help plough the fields and were treated with great care, one of her sisters in particular loved looking after the horses.

Maxine even removed one of her gauntlets so that she could stroke Thunder and give him a small smile. Gregory took note as it was one of the few times that he saw any part of her body that wasn't covered in thick armour. He thought that although it was large that her hand still looked quite feminine. Through his time with her he did imagine what she was like without her armour.

An image did creep into her mind of her being a bulky woman as her armour made it look like she had a thick body. But he knew that she was likely slimmer as her armour just made her look larger than she actual was. Her height was not in question but every time she took off her armour she had made sure that he wasn't present.

Unbeknownst to him Charles had seen her without her armour but it hadn't been for too long and even then, she had quickly put it back on once he had finished cleaning. Gregory was aware that some knights refused to be seen without their armour. He took an educated guess and thought that Maxine was one of these people.

By the time evening came around the sight of Teasel slowly began to creep over the horizon. For everyone it was a welcome relief as it meant that they could have a decent rest and hopefully earn some gold as well. They were also a little hungry after their long journey and continued on as quickly as they could.

Much like some of the towns that they had previously been to there was a gate blocking their way with a man standing behind it. He was safe as the gate was completely covered but there was a slot that he could see through. With all the bandit attacks that had been taking place he was particularly on edge against those he didn't know of.

"Who goes there?" asked the Man. He could not completely see Maxine as they were standing too close to the gate but he could see both Gregory and Charles relatively well. "State your business."

"My name is Gregory Helms and my friend standing next to me here is Maxine Martel," replied Gregory. "We are part of the task force that your mayor has been hiring, you know against the bandits."

"Oh, I thought I recognised your face. Who is the boy on your horse?" Charles was about to state that he wasn't a boy but Gregory quickly spoke up before he had the chance to do so. It was likely for the best.

"He is my friend's squire. He will be of some help toward myself and my friend here so can you please allow us to enter?"

"Very well, you know where you need to go."

The slot then closed and a few seconds later gate opened. When it did Thunder began to trot through with Maxine following close by. This was the first time that the man was able to see her completely. He was taken aback by her sheer size and he stared at her with his mouth open. This caused her to give him an annoyed glance which was enough to cause him to step back with intimidation.

For the man there were a few reasons that he was so taken aback by her, the first was her sheer size, the fact that she was a woman and the third was that she was all armoured up. To him she was the most unusual knight that he had ever seen. Although he knew that she wasn't a true knight as she hadn't been knighted yet.

With the gate problem now resolved the trio continued their now much shortened journey. They were slowly making their way to a building which was being used as a base of operation for the task force. As they approached they could see another few horses that had already been strapped outside. It was a small looking building and one thing that Maxine disliked was small buildings.

Unlike her male companions she had difficulty getting her large body and thick armour through the door. But when she was inside she could see three other armoured men sitting at a table. They were drinking ale and seemingly laughing amongst one another. Their heads turned toward the trio when they heard someone enter. They instantly recognised Gregory but Maxine and Charles were alien to them.

One other thing that caused her some annoyance was the fact that the room had a low ceiling. If she stood up straight her head would likely go right through it so because of it she had to bend down a little in order to do be able to fit. This had not gone unnoticed by the others who were quiet for a moment. Gregory walked forward and smiled as he knew that he had to cut some of the tension.

"Greetings friends," said Gregory. "As you can see I have returned just as I promised and I brought my friend that I told you about."

"Your friend?" replied one of the armoured figures. He was a relatively young man who wore light armour. It made him quicker but not too much additional protection. "You mean the big one?"

"Yes, this is my friend who I told you about." He slightly gestured his hand toward Maxine who continued to stand there. "Why don't you introduce yourself."

"My name is Maxine Martel, eldest daughter of Sir Tucker Martel," answered Maxine. There was some seriousness in her voice as she wanted to let these three men know that she wasn't joking around.

"Are you serious?" replied another of the armoured men. "You say that you're going to bring a powerhouse and you bring a woman? I think you've been drinking too much ale there Greg."

"Did you want to try me? If it's a test of strength that you're after then I would be more than happy to demonstrate." She considered grabbing him around the neck lifting him off of his feet. This would be a good way to show off her strength and put this fool in his place. However, she decided against it as she knew that she would have to work alongside these people.

"Now, now let's not do anything that any of us might regret," said Gregory. He stood in front of Maxine even though he didn't think that he could stop her if she wanted to move. "We're all friends here, so why don't we all sit down and have a nice drink before we go out on patrol."

There was a small groan from everyone as they prepared to do some more drinking. Gregory sat down at the table where the others were drinking. There was no space for Maxine so she had to sit her large body on the ground but she was glad to be given ale. As her squire Charles also sat down beside her but rather than drinking ale he was perfectly happy with water. This caused a couple of the men to laugh at him but a strong glance from Maxine soon put this laughter to rest.

As they were drinking and talking the pair discovered the names of the other men. The one that had insulted Maxine was called Arthur Wright, he was supposed to be tough as he had ranked quite highly in a couple of tournaments. The second was Sir Darren Locke who had received a knighthood from a lord simply by giving him enough gold. To Maxine this was the worst way to earn a knighthood as it was not truly earned. The third man was named Scott Barry who looked to be a large man. He had lifted the faceplate of his helmet so that he could drink his ale.

Charles began to write a few things down in his book. He was taking information of these men and even made small drawings of them so that he could remember who they are. This also was for in case Maxine decided that she owed them a favour or if they had slighted her enough to incur her rage.

They relaxed and drank for about half an hour before the door to the building opened up again. Charles expected to see other knights who had arrived for the same assignment. Instead she saw a well-dressed man accompanied by two guards. He was an elderly gentleman who looked like he was close to retirement. He wore a pin on his clothes that indicated that he was a high ranking official, if the squire had to guess he would say that this man was the mayor of this town.

"The time for drinking has come to an end," said the Mayor. "Night is upon us and it is time for you to fulfil your duties." He noticed Maxine sitting there and at first, he thought that she was a short knight. However, when he realised that she was sitting down and that she was a woman he was a little lost for words.

"What needs to be done then?" asked Sir Darren. He wanted to have his money and then be done with the place. He had already been there for two weeks and he wanted to move onto somewhere else. The free ale did make him want to stay longer but even that wasn't all that great. The ale was far from the best and to him he thought that he was simply drinking flavoured water.

"I don't know how but bandits are still getting into the town. You will all go on patrol tonight and if you find anyone outside without this badge...." He took a small badge out of his pocket which was a simple green triangle. There was nothing of any real note about it. "You will consider them to be bandits and you can either bring them to the cells or outright kill them. That might seem a little extreme but with everything that's happened extreme measures are needed." He then looked at Maxine again and there was some confusion. "And who are you? I don't remember hiring you."

"This is my friend that we talked about," replied Gregory. "The one that I said would be a big help, allow me to introduce to you Maxine Martel." She didn't like the fact that Gregory was speaking for her but at that moment in time she kept quiet and simply bowed her head at him.

"And the other bloke, don't tell me that you expect him to fight?" He was referring to Charles who had simply been sitting there and mostly minding his own business. He looked up when he thought that he was being referenced to.

"Of course not, he is simply the squire of my friend. He's not expected to go patrolling at all."

Like Maxine before him Charles remained silent. From what he could tell the Mayor wasn't the most pleasant man in the world. He was someone that Charles would normally not like to interact with but for the sake of the job he was willing to put this to one side, he could only imagine what Maxine was thinking.

"Good because he doesn't look like the intimidating kind of person," said the Mayor. He hoped that fear would also help keep the bandits away and Maxine seemed to fit that job. He could tell that she was the largest human being that he had ever met, even when she was sitting down.

For the next several minutes the group began to go over a map of the town. The Mayor was going through where the bandits had been spotted and where crimes had taken place. It was a fairly large area and although there were night patrols by normal citizens there was still no curbing of crime. This had forced the Mayor to hire knights to try and achieve the task that his people had failed to do.

Maxine was instructed that she would be patrolling the north section of the town. Basically, all she needed to do was walk in a continual circle and stop anyone that she felt was suspicious. It seemed like an easy task but something inside of her told her that it would be something more than that.

As expected Charles was going to remain behind but this was something that he didn't mind. He was tired and a decent amount of sleep was exactly what he needed, it did seem odd to him that Maxine would be going out on an errand without him but he knew that he would only get in the way. Staying in the building was not only the right thing to do but also the most sensible.

Before disembarking each of the knights took another drink of ale before one by one they left the building. Maxine instructed Charles to stay put and carry out whatever duties he saw fit. She didn't know how long she would be but she wanted to be sure that he was occupied while she was gone.

Once outside the building each of the men unhooked their horses and began to ride away. A couple of them looked on at Maxine and sniggered a little to themselves over the fact that she didn't have a horse. They thought that possessing a horse was essential to a knight and that one without a horse was subpar. They didn't really take into account the fact that she was simply too big to ride one. There was a good chance that if she did she would most likely cause the poor animal a lot of harm.

Ignoring the sniggers Maxine simply walked to where she was going on patrol. She placed her helmet on her head and with it on none of her skin could be seen at all. To anyone watching she looked like a towering metallic figure who moved fairly quickly for someone of her size. If she hadn't looked intimidating before she would definitely look intimidating now.

For the next hour she continued her patrol and she did stop a couple of people who were on the streets. They had the badges that the Mayor had showed her before, this meant that they had permission to be out this late so she allowed them to go along with their business. They were shocked to see her and when she was completely in her armour they couldn't even tell that she was a woman.

Her heavy footsteps could be hurt on the cobble paths and she found it hard to see. Her helmet did restrict some of her vision and the darkness of night didn't help her in the slightest. She thought that if there were bandits they would be most likely too well hidden for her to spot them. She thought that even if they were only six feet away that she still might not see them.

This annoyed Maxine as she almost tripped over a small rock. Thankfully there wasn't anyone around to see the extremely tall woman almost fall over. It was an embarrassment that she would most likely not live down. But thankfully it had not happened and she simply went on her way.

Just when she thought that she was in for an uneventful night she noticed something in the corner of her field of vision. At first, she ignored it but when she saw it move it peeked her interest. Slowly she turned toward it and walked, she could see a shadowy figure and at first, she thought that it was some kind of bandit. But instead she could see that the figure was much smaller than she expected. Even for her size the figure looked small and when she came closer she realised that it was a child.

The child was a little girl who didn't look any more than eight. Her hair was blonde and curly and her clothing didn't look like rags of a homeless person. Instead she seemed quite scared when she saw Maxine who loomed over her. She watched as the giantess squatted down so that she didn't seem so big.

"What are you doing out here at this time of night?" asked Maxine. She didn't bother looking for any kind of badge as she knew that the Mayor wouldn't issue such a thing to children.

"You're scary," replied the Girl. She seemed genuinely terrified of her and the girl watched as Maxine took off her helmet to reveal her face.

"See I'm not scary, I'm just trying to help. Now please tell me where your parents are."

"I don't know, I was with them a minute ago and now they're gone. Please you have to help me find them." The girl seemed to be on the verge of crying and Maxine thought that she didn't have time for this. But she still couldn't allow a child to roam the streets at night, she would never forgive herself if something happened to the girl.

"Ok, I'll try and find your parents." She heard something behind her, it was like a couple of boxes were falling. "What was that?"

"Oh, that was just a cat. But you have to help me, I don't know where my parents went and I'm all scared and alone." There was something about this that didn't sit right with Maxine, there was something off that she couldn't put her finger on.

"I will help but you need to tell me where you live and your parents' name." She heard another sound behind her. This time it was louder and she knew that it couldn't have been a cat this time. She turned her head and she was able to see two men carrying what seemed to be a large crate. There were a few seconds of silence as they both looked at each other. They were waiting for the other to make the first move. "What are you doing?" Her voice was fairly loud and intimidating. She quickly turned her attention away from the girl and stood up to her full height.

The two men didn't answer and this only caused the standoff to continue. Maxine even drew her sword which did intimidate the two men. They could see that it was a sword that normally needed two hands to wield but this intimidating figure was large enough to use it with only one.

"Don't stand there like idiots!" shouted the Little Girl. "Get the fuck out of here." This caused Maxine to turn her head toward the little girl and the distraction was enough for the two bandits to attempt their escape.

They quickly dropped what they were carrying and ran as fast as they could. Maxine gave chase but her armour did slow her down. It wasn't particularly designed for running and she found herself weighed down. Her father had told her that light armour would suffice but she had chosen heavy armour instead. She was beginning to regret it but she didn't have time to think about it as she continued to run.

One thing that also surprised her was the fact the little girl that she had come across was seemingly working with the bandits. From the tone that she had taken it even sounded like she was the one in charge. Unfortunately, she couldn't do much but watch as the two bandits ahead of her continued to gain more and more ground. It wasn't long before they were able to slip into an alleyway/

Maxine stopped dead in her tracks and began to look around. She was very frustrated with herself as she felt like she had failed. But one thing that she did think was that the bandits hadn't gone too far. She was sure that if she looked around the local area that she would find them.

The situation had been more confusing than anything else but there was one thing that's he was almost certain of. This was the fact that she was going to be in for one long and eventful night.