With each passing moment the panic within climbed as she could see the small but still determined Maxine looking up at her and with her hand gripped around her wrist. It would be easy for the taller woman to simply break free but it wouldn't resolve the colossal problem that was in front of her.

The one in the most disbelief was Shepherd Riley who never thought that one of her colleagues would do something such as this. But with her actions and the evidence presented it seemed that the guilty party was right there in front of them. It was a very tense moment as no one was completely aware about what was going to happen next. If it was up to one person in particular, she would be back to being big in a few moments.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" asked Maxine in a very angry and demanding tone. "Give back to me what you stole!"

"I-I..." replied Shepherd Crawley. The fear was evident in her voice and it was almost funny to see such a short woman like Maxine striking fear into the quite tall Shepherd. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie Crawley," stated Shepherd Riley. "You're only making things worse for yourself." Her usually soft tone seemed to be replaced with some determination. It was very different to what they were all expecting to hear.

At this time Charles remained quiet as he simply watched as events unfolded before him. He chose to say and do nothing for the time being as he didn't think that there was anything that he could do to change things. He still had a lot on his mind and he thought that it was best to observe and only act if he truly needed to.

"I-I don't have it," said Shepherd Crawley. The fear was still in her voice and it seemed her words were just making the already irate Maxine even angrier.

"What do you mean you don't have it?" replied Maxine. If she was her full size, she would have most likely broken a bone at this point in time. Fortunately for the wayward shepherd, the short woman lacked the strength to do so.

"I-It's gone!"

Several minutes later Shepherd Crawley found herself standing in a large room. She wasn't alone in this room as Maxine and Charles stood near one of the walls while sitting on a chair was the elderly Shepherd Morgan. There were several other shepherds standing around and this included Shepherd Riley. Not all the shepherds were there as there were still some who were tending to the children.

The room was relatively plain although there was a painting on the wall. Everyone besides Shepherd Morgan was standing up and there was a lot of electricity in the air. A lot of the other Shepherds were in disbelief over what was happening, there was a short amount of chatter amongst themselves but this quickly subsided when their elderly mentor raised her hand. The room suddenly fell into silence which was particularly nerve-racking for the woman at the centre of all of this. Now everyone just eagerly waited for the elderly woman to speak.

"Shepherd Crawley," stated Shepherd Morgan. She might be old but she could certainly bellow her voice if she needed to. "You stand here accused of stealing the magic within our quest. Do you admit your crimes to the gods above?"

"Y-Yes I do," replied Shepherd Crawley. She was close to tears and she knew that although she could hide her crimes from her fellow shepherds she couldn't do the same from the gods. They were constantly looking down at her and judging her actions much like they did with everyone else in the world.

"And what would drive a woman who has pledged her life to the gods to perform such acts?" This was where the silent seemed to last the longest as everyone was eager to hear what she had to say. The tension could be cut with a knife and it seemed like things might not go as expected.

"W-We're in a bad way, so many children with mouths to feed but the money that we need doesn't come from thin air. We pray to the gods everyday but that doesn't bring anything to the table. Nothing that we could use to truly help these children, I-I had no choice in what I did."

"What did you do?" Maxine was remaining quiet throughout this but she wanted Shepherd Crawley to get to the point of where the magic that had been inside of her had gone. The sooner it was returned to her, the sooner she could become like she was before. "Tell us this instant!"

"The mysterious donations that we've been receiving, it is because of me. I-I've been helping a team of bandits obtain and distribute stolen items." Normally she wouldn't openly admit such things but since she knew that the gods were watching her she knew that they and the other Shepherds would see through any lie she told. "When our guest came yesterday, I suspected that her great size was due to magic. I once knew a man who was eight feet tall and his quality of life was mediocre at best. But her, she was even taller and could still move around without much issue. Only though magic could something like that happen, so I extracted the magic from her as she slept."

"And how did you achieve this? Such a thing shouldn't be possible." It seemed like Shepherd Morgan was in as much disbelief as everyone else. They had not thought that such a thing could even happen and yet Maxine was living evidence.

"I was given a special tool which allowed me to extract the magic from our guest. Unfortunately the process left black marks which was something that I hadn't really expected."

"Enough of this!" stated Maxine in an angry voice. She took a few steps forward and it was obvious to everyone there that the rage that she felt was great. "Where is it?" There was no subtly behind her words, the bluntness of her question hadn't gone unnoticed and it was still a very unusual event. Non-Shepherds were not normally permitted to speak in an assembly like this but it seemed like the shrunken woman didn't care about it. "Give me back what was taken from me!"

"I-I don't have it anymore." Normally Shepherd Crawley would have been more terrified of the situation thanks to the thought of an angry nine-foot, muscle bound woman was not appealing. Now it didn't seem as scary but this was still a situation that she hadn't wanted to find herself in.

"You what!" Maxine took another few steps forward and a couple of Shepherds had to step forward and hold onto her so that she didn't do something that they would all likely regret later on. All of the Shepherds' words to try and calm her down didn't seem to work, if anything they only added to her rage. "Let go of me!" This was still a situation that was alien to her, normally she would be able to break free from their grip without much effort. Now she was being overpowered and there was nothing that she could do to stop them.

"It has already been taken away," continued Shepherd Crawley. "The night that I took it, I gave it to the bandits. They have most likely taken it to Flea Bay so that it can be sold. After that it could end up anywhere."

Although Charles had remained silent he understood the severity of the situation. Flea Bay was well known for it's thriving market where a man could buy and sell practically anything. If the magic that had been taken from Maxine was taken there and sold it would be incredibly difficult to track down, maybe even impossible. There was even a chance that it could be taken somewhere overseas. If that were to happen then Maxine would have to be used to being small forever.

"Your heart might have been in the right place Shepherd Crawley," said Shepherd Morgan as she could see exactly what was going on. "But your actions have disgraced our order, take her away from here. We will deal with her later." With that the disgraced Shepherd was led away by two other Shepherds. This wasn't what Maxine had wanted but she still remained quiet as she watched the events play out in front of her. "It seems that events have not played out as we foresaw." She was looking over to the shrunken Maxine who stood there, her anger was still evident but she had it under better control than she did a few moments earlier. "All I can do is apologise to you for what has happened but now I must ask, what are you going to do next?"

"That's a simple one," replied Maxine. To her it was a stupid question but she didn't show this as she wanted to show no disrespect to the elderly Shepherd who had been nothing but helpful since the crisis began. "My squire and I are going to travel to Flea Bay and take back what rightfully belongs to me."

"But that will be dangerous. Don't forget that you aren't as powerful as you were before." There was concern in her voice and it reminded Maxine of her own mother. It seemed somewhat laughable that someone could be concerned for the safety of a nine-foot woman with large muscles. But then again it was always natural for a parent to worry about their child, no matter the situation.

"I am well aware of the risk involved and I don't care." Her stance changed as it showed just how serious she was. "With my blood, sweat and tears I will take back what was stolen from me!"

"An honourable task although the danger is there. If there is anything within our power to help you, just name it and it will be done." This caused Maxine to fall silent for a few moments as she thought. She didn't think that these holy women nor the orphans that were in their care could do anything that could truly help her. But there were a couple of things that did spring to mind.

"There are two things that I will require. First is to speak to Shepherd Crawley, there is some information that I would like to obtain from her. The second is that I wish for my sword and armour to be sent to my family's farm. That way I know that it is safe and I can retrieve it once I have finished retrieving my size."

"Very well, but you will need to be supervised when speaking to Shepherd Crawley. Do you find this acceptable?"

"Yes I do, thank you for your help."

With that the court so to speak was dismissed as Maxine and Charles began to prepare for what was going to be a dangerous journey. It would be a relatively short trip to Flea Bay but finding the magic and getting it back was going to be incredible. One thing that they knew was that time was of the essence, the person who currently had it in their possession already had a half a day head start. If they were to lose anymore ground then it would make their difficult task nigh on impossible.

As they prepared they were given some food for their travels and some of the children even took a good look at Maxine. Many of them still couldn't believe the change that had happened to her. Many even thought that they were two completely different people and not the same woman but smaller.

It was only a few minutes later that Maxine found herself stepping into a small room. It was so small that if she had been her larger self she wouldn't have been able to fit inside comfortably. Charles was not by her side this time as she had instructed him to write a letter to her family to go along with the armour and sword that she was sending to them. The letter would only state that she would return to retrieve it in the near future, it didn't mention anything about her becoming smaller and weaker. This was so that she didn't worry her mother or give her sisters any motivation to mock her.

Inside the room she could see Shepherd Crawley sitting there and this filled her fill of rage. More than anything she wanted to drive her sword into her chest but it took a great amount of willpower to stop herself from performing this act. Instead she simply stared at her but close by was a table. There she saw a tool that she didn't recognise, this was unusual since tools were something that were often made at the Martel forgery. It looked like a claw of some kind, if she had to guess she would have thought that it was the tool that had been used to take the magic out of her body. For now she thought that ignorance was bliss, to her it wasn't the most important reason for her being here.

"I've got a few questions to ask before I leave," said Maxine. The seriousness of her voice was quickly picked up by the disgraced Shepherd who sat there and simply listened. "The thief that you gave my size to, who is he?"

"I-I don't know his real name," replied Shepherd Crawley. She couldn't help but feel intimidated by the small woman standing before her and she knew better than to say something that would upset her. "But he went by the nickname 'The Weasel'. That's all I know."

"What does he look like?"

"Short black hair, fairly skinny and a brown eyes." This news didn't seem to impress Maxine very much and she gave a small grunt to show her dissatisfaction.

"So he basically looks a common man in Angleland, you have to give me more than that." Her anger was at bay for now but she could unleash it at a moment's notice if she thought that it would help the situation.

"Well there is one thing that makes him stand out." It was unusual for Maxine to see someone so forthcoming with information. Normally it would take a lot more threatening or maybe even torture. But Shepherd Crawley was speaking as if there was already a dagger being pointed into her back.

"And what is that?" She thought that she might be getting somewhere but now she might be learning something essential.

"On his right hand he is missing his ring finger. I don't know how he lost it, but it is one thing I particularly remember about his appearance." There were a few moments of silence as Maxine thought about what she was going to do next. More and more she thought about striking the disgraced Shepherd, but instead she simply turned around and began to make her way to the door behind her.

"Thank you for your help." When she reached the door, she stopped for a moment and turned her head towards Shepherd Crawley. "Just a little information, for your sake, I hope that our paths never cross again. If they do, I will not hesitate in breaking every single bone in your body. I'd start with the unessential bones such as your fingers and toes, then move up to your limbs, your ribs and then eventually I will snap your neck like a twig."

With that she continued to walk out of the room and she knew that she had made her point. She had no idea if she would see Shepherd Crawley again but she knew that if she did, it would be a day to remember.

Maxine didn't like the idea of going anywhere without her sword on her person. However, carrying it in her current state was nigh impossible and using it for it's intended purpose would be even more difficult. It annoyed her that she had to send it to her home for the time being but she more than intended to return and pick it up.

Eventually the shrunken woman found herself standing in a room where she could see a couple of the orphans being tended to by Shepherd Riley. They had gotten into a fight over something that was considered to be trivial. But the young holy woman had been able to stop them from fighting and try to show them the errors of their actions. In a way it reminded Maxine of when her own mother would step in-between fights involving herself and Carrie. In a way it showed that even though the Martel family were a unusual family they still did things that were considered normal.

It took a moment or two for the Shepherd to realise that she was there and she sent the two orphans away. She hoped that they had learned their lesson but she knew that it was likely that she would be having this same conversation with them before long. There was a smile on her face as she looked at Maxine and she still found it odd. Just the day before she was looking up at her, now she was looking down and it was something that she would never forget.

"Is there something that I can help you with?" asked Shepherd Riley. She showed her great respect as she still felt guilty over what had happened. Even though it hadn't been her who had stole from Maxine, she still felt that she was guilty by association.

"I wanted to thank you for everything that you've done for my squire and I," replied Maxine. She too sounded respectful as well and she even bowed her head slightly to the taller woman. "And I must apologise for jumping to conclusions earlier, I should not have done that."

"It's alright, you were not in the right state of mind. But now that the cause of your change has been revealed we can move forward." She had even placed her hands together as she spoke.

"There is something else that I'm wondering, will you be coming with us to Flea Bay. I'm sure that you will be of great help to us."

"I would love to but I'm afraid I cannot. My place is here with the children. I can't leave them." It sounded like there was some regret in her voice but there was also some determination. She had made her vow some time ago and was keeping it no matter what came her way.

"That is a shame, but I respect your decision and commitment to your role." In a way it made Maxine slightly jealous. Shepherd Riley knew her place in the world and what her duties were. The fact that she wasn't breaking them just showed the kind of woman that she was. One that deserved all the respect that she got.

"And from here all I can do is pray to the gods that your quest is successful and you become what you were like before."

Maxine was sure to thank Shepherd Riley for her words and once again gave her a small bow. She then turned around and stepped out of the room, she wasn't sure if after today that she would see Shepherd Riley or this orphanage ever again.

In a way it did make her a little sad, this would certainly be a visit that she would never forget but with each step she took she knew that she was one step closer to getting back what had been taken from her. Although she didn't have her sword, she wasn't completely unarmed.

On her person Maxine still carried her hunting knife although it was much larger than she remembered. Before, it had almost seemed weightless to her but now it was more difficult to use properly. Not just that but there was still some dried blood on the blade, she knew that it wasn't animal blood but instead the blood of the cult that had almost killed her. Charles was far from fully recovering from the incident.

With everything that had happened she hadn't had the time to help him with his needs. Things had happened so quickly that she was surprised that he was still holding it together. She thought that he would have been crying in the corner as the events of that night would replay in his mind over and over again. But he was still with it mostly and seemingly willing to help her. Because of that she respected him greatly and she knew that she would have to reward him once she was back to being big again. Even though his debt to her had been repaid, she knew that she still needed him.

Eventually Maxine and Charles did have everything that they needed to start their journey and she began to take a few steps out of the orphanage. Maxine took the lead like she normally did with Charles following close behind. To him it still seemed odd for him not just seeing her so small, but also without her armour. He knew how important it was to her and the fact that she wasn't wearing it just made him think that the situation was worse than he had thought.

There was also some fear from him as his main protection was gone. Before he had taken comfort in the case that Maxine would be able to take down any threat that came their way. He even thought that she was powerful enough to kill a bear without the need for a weapon. Now even a single bandit would likely get the better of her and because of this he was worried, but he didn't speak of his fear as he thought that his friend would not want to hear such a thing.

Although now it was afternoon, they were confident that they would reach Flea Bay by nightfall but just reaching it wasn't the issue. Finding this thief known as The Weasel was going to be a Herculean task. Flea Bay was probably the largest port in Angleland and finding a single person there was close to impossible. Even so it didn't deter Maxine from her mission.

The sooner that she was restored, the sooner that she could get out of this dress and wear attire that she was more comfortable with. To her it was embarrassing to wear a dress in this manner and she even considered buying some temporary clothing while she was like this. But it would cost them precious money. At least she didn't have to worry about clothes being too small for her which was a common problem. Instead she had to worry about never having the problem from now on. Although it was something that she had hoped some time ago she didn't want it in this manner.