As the duo walked along the road to Flea Bay it turned out that the journey was more difficult than they had originally anticipated. Not only had the weather turned, when they had started it had been relatively sunny. Now it was pouring down with rain and they had nothing to protect themselves from it.

Not just that but their journey was taking longer than they had expected. Maxine's body was much smaller than she remembered and with the magic removed from her she also lost a lot of the energy that she once had. Beforehand she could walk for miles and miles while wearing heavy armour without too much of a problem. Now she was barely above half her height before and the long walk was taxing on her.

Charles remained close by but like he, he was getting drenched from the weather and he wasn't enjoying it one bit. However, he wasn't too concerned about his own wellbeing but rather Maxine's. He could see that she was struggling, reaching Flea Bay by nightfall seemed to be a pipedream. They were still too far away and it was likely that even if they did keep walking throughout the night, they might not reach it until daybreak. There was also the fact that they were both very tired and he looked towards his now smaller companion. He could see the look of determination on her face. That look was not unfamiliar to him, he knew that when she was like this, nothing could stop her.

"Ma'am," said Charles. There was some caution in his voice as he spoke and he saw as she turned her head to him. "I think that it would be best for the both of us that we stayed somewhere for the night." The glare that he saw would have sent a shiver down his spine but instead he thought that it looked somewhat adorable. It was true that without her height and muscles, that Maxine actually looked cute.

"What did you say?" replied Maxine. She was trying to make herself sound commanding but with her new higher pitch it didn't have the same ring to it.

"I'm saying that it is best for us to stay in an inn for the night and then continue onto Flea Bay in the morning."

"No, we'll keep going. The sooner we get my size back the sooner I can carry on my quest to become a knight." She tried to pick up her pace but her legs were tired and she didn't want to admit that she was hungry.

"I don't think that it is the best idea ma'am. Look at us, we're soaked through and through and this rain isn't letting up. If we carry on like this then we'll catch a cold and that won't do good for either of us. I suspect a cold for you would be far more damaging than it was before, so please ma'am, try and see reason."

Maxine fell silent as she thought about what her companion was saying. She wanted to say that he was wrong and that they should keep going. However, she saw a lot of sense in what he was saying and she had to admit that she wanted to get out of the rain and be sat in front of a nice warm fire with a cup of ale in her hand.

"Fine," said Maxine as she admitted defeat. She gave a small sigh as she continued to walk, she had to shield her eyes from the rain as it was blowing right into her face. "We'll find somewhere to rest for the night."

"Thank you, ma'am," replied Charles. He smiled to her and she didn't look away from this either.

One problem that the former tall woman had was the fact that she was walking around in a dress. At first glance this would be the norm but in Maxine's mind this wasn't the case. She was far more used to walking around in heavy armour or at the least a shirt, trousers and boots rather than what she was wearing now.

For as long as she could remember, Maxine hated wearing dresses. She remembered when she had been a little girl and her mother had put her in a dress, in her mind it was impractical to move around in and even fight. It was also very strange for her to walk around without a sword on her person.

In her mind this made her feel very vulnerable. She feared that at any moment someone might jump out and try to attack them. Although she was still armed with her hunting knife, against a sword she didn't think that it would be of much use. Especially in her smaller and weaker body, she wasn't sure if she could protect herself or Charles. Right now, he was the largest and strongest out of the two and it was very strange to her.

After around another half an hour of walking the pair did see an inn just down the road. It looked to be a relatively small but to them it didn't really matter, as long as there was a room available it didn't matter the size of the building. Upon seeing the inn, the pair picked up their pace and it almost went to the point that they were running.

It only took a few seconds of running for Maxine to begin to become tired. This was embarrassing and by the time that they walked through the front door, the short woman was completely out of breath. She took several deep breaths as she tried to recover and she looked over to Charles. Although he too was tired, he was still in better shape than Maxine was. It was something that she did notice and refused to fully admit to herself.

Normally when she stepped into an inn all eyes would be on her as none of the patrons would have seen any human being as large as her. Instead there was a quick glance towards them once they had entered and then the patrons went back to what they had been doing before. There was no chatter, no glares and no chuckles amongst them, if anything it was Charles who drew more attention than her.

Thanks to his skin colour, he was a rare sight in Angleland. There were a couple of words between the patrons and then they went silent as they simply went back to talking amongst themselves and drinking.

The inside of the inn was more or less what the pair had expected but one thing that they had noticed was that in the corner was a warm fire that was burning. It made them feel more comfortable but they still felt cold as their clothes were soaking wet. If they were to try and feel warmer, they would have to dry off their clothes.

Maxine stepped towards the counter where she could see an innkeeper behind it. He was a relatively young man but still had no hair whatsoever on his body. He didn't even have any eyebrows at all and to the short woman it was a little odd. But in comparison to some of the other events that it wasn't too surprising for her.

"Can I help you?" asked the Innkeeper. His tone of voice sounded curious but there was a slight hint of annoyance behind it.

"My companion and I would like a room for the night," replied Maxine. Like before, she tried to make her voice sound commanding but unfortunately, she was unsuccessful. "Preferably one with two beds."

"I'm sorry to tell you but we're out of that kind of room." He was wiping a cup that had been filled with ale just a few minutes ago. "I only have one room left and it has a double bed."

"You have no others?" Normally a double bed would be ideal for her as her larger body struggled to fit in a normal bed. Length would still be a problem but width was not too much of an issue for her then.

"If there was, I would have mentioned it, now will you take it or leave it?"

"Fine." She grumbled as she didn't like this but had no choice in the matter. "How much for the room?"

"You're looking at around sixty gold."

"Sixty gold!" Her anger began to flare up but it wasn't as big of a scene as she had expected. "That's outrageous."

"Well you could always go back out there in the rain." He smiled as he knew that he had Maxine exactly where he wanted her. Her arm was basically twisted around her back and she would have no choice but to admit defeat.

Maxine could only grumble as she knew that she had no choice but to pay. She was far from happy about this but with the circumstances as they were, she knew that it was either this or walking in the rain again. Not only did she not want that for herself but also for Charles, neither of them would particularly finish off well if it came to that.

"Fine," said Maxine as she saw Charles putting the money down in a small pouch. The Innkeeper took it without any hesitation whatsoever and a small smile appeared on his face. As far as she was concerned, she preferred that this was where their interaction would end but her stomach began to grumble. Thanks to all the excitement of what had happened over the day, she had forgotten to eat. "Do you sell any pies?"

"We have some game pie cooking right now," replied the Innkeeper. He could see that he was going to extort some more money out of her. "Shall I prepare two for you?"

"Yes, you may, and some ale as well." Despite her smaller size she was still wanting to drink some sweet ale. Her gaze did turn to Charles who was still standing close by. "Do you want some ale as well?"

"Water will do for me thank you," replied Charles. He was quiet and more reserved than his companion and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

"And a water for my friend thank you."

After the order was done, the pair were instructed to sit at a nearby table and wait for their food and drinks to come. Maxine still walked with pretty much the same confidence that she had before she had been cut down to size. As she sat down on the bench, she noticed that her feet only barely touched the ground. Just another reminder of her new size, there was also the fact that there was no creaking sound. Normally when she sat down on something like a bench there would be a creaking sound due to her sheer weight. This time it didn't happen and it would take a little getting used to.

For the next several minutes the pair simply sat at the table and waited. They also spoke about what was going to happen once they had arrived at Flea Bay. If the magic that had been stolen from Maxine was still there, then they would have to track it down. It was likely going to be a difficult task but they still thought that it was possible. Asking around might be risky but it was considered their best option at that time.

After a short while they did notice someone approaching their table. At first, they thought that it was simply the Innkeeper bringing their food over to them. However, when Maxine looked up, she could see that it was a large man with a thick beard and short hair. He had quite a gut and they also noticed that he had a sword attached to his belt. Despite this Maxine seemed to remain calm as his focus seemed to be on her.

"Hey there," said the Man. There was a slight slur to his voice which indicated that he had likely been drinking. As he smiled at her she could see that he had lost a few of his teeth and the ones that he had left were yellow. It wasn't the most pleasant sight that she had seen but she tried to ignore him at first. "I couldn't help but notice you as you walked in and it got me thinking. What's a little cutie like you doing walking into a place like this with a bloke like that by her side." He gestured over to Charles who seemed to nervous, however he thought that he might have to say something in a moment.

"That is none of your business," replied Maxine. She barely looked at him as not only did his appearance repulse her. "Now leave us be and go back to whatever you were doing before."

"I don't think so. You don't realise that this is your lucky day, it's not every day that I take a shine to a woman like you."

"Leave now, I'm not going to tell you again." This time there was more anger in her voice and she glared up to him.

"Oh, you're a feisty one, I like them feisty." He then grabbed onto her wrist and seemed to want to pull her up to her feet. This caused Charles to get out of his seat but he also noticed Maxine punching the man in the stomach. He was surprised to see this bravery from her but it didn't do her much good as she soon felt a strong strike to her face. Her would be wooer had struck her with such force that she had been knocked over and for one of the few times in her life, she felt fear. "You stupid whore!"

"Hey, get away from her!" shouted Charles. He quickly darted forward and tried to defend Maxine.

Before he could strike the man, he saw as a few of the man's friends stepped up and grabbed him from behind. They had seen what their friend had done and they knew that it could spell trouble so they wanted him to get away as soon as possible. Charles could hear them telling him that they needed to go.

This was good news for Maxine's companion as if they were staying to fight, he would stand little chance against them. All he could do for the moment was watch as they left and thanked his luck. Immediately afterwards he went down to Maxine's side as she was slumped over the bench and seemed to be in some pain.

"Ma'am are you alright?" asked Charles. There was great concern in his voice. His hand reached down to her and the next thing he knew, he could feel it getting slapped away by her smaller hand.

"Of course, I am, I'm fine!" replied Maxine in a defiant voice. Slowly she sat up and she had her hand on the part of her face that had been struck. He could see that she was fighting back the tears but it seemed that her pride prevented her from admitting that anything was wrong. "I don't need your help."

"Is that..."

"I said I'm fine!" Her voice was sharp and angry. If she were her normal size, he would likely be afraid. "Now sit down!"

Charles did as he was told although he wanted nothing more than to treat her for the injury that he was sure that she had suffered. Her hand was still on her face and when she lowered it for a moment, he could see that there was a bruise developing on her cheek and a cut on her lip. There were also some tears that were developing in her eyes but she did everything she could to stop herself from crying.

A part of him couldn't help but respect her pride and resolve but there was another part of him that thought the opposite. It was obvious that she was in some discomfort and yet she purposely prevented herself from being helped by him. He knew that it wasn't anything personal to him.

One thing that he could understand was that her world had been turned upside down. Twenty-four hours previously she had been nine feet tall with more muscles than most men and was amongst if not the strongest person in Angleland. Now she was small and weak, even in comparison to an average woman. If they were successful in this quest of theirs, then she would be back to being big in no time. If not then she would likely remain like this for the rest of her days.

It wasn't long after that when the food and drinks were finally brought to their table. Maxine was annoyed to have had to wait that long but she said nothing as she was still nursing her pride. The Innkeeper had seen what had happened and yet chose to say nothing about it. It was as if he was so used to seeing what had taken place that he no longer saw too much issue with it.

More or less as soon as the ale was placed down onto the table, Maxine picked it up and began to drink it. It was odd for her that the cup that contained the ale was far larger than she remembered. It was a little awkward for her to pick up but she was able to do it confidently within a few moments.

Something else that the small woman noticed was that the ale tasted much stronger than she remembered. It caused her to stop drinking it for a moment before she began to drink it again. Normally she was used to drinking the entire thing in one go. This time however she simply couldn't, not just because it tasted stronger than she had expected but it just felt bigger in general.

A part of her considered putting the cup down but through the pain and embarrassment that she had experienced she needed something to wash it all away. Because of this she continued to drink it and she began to feel the effects of the alcohol. In the past the only time when she had been affected by a drink was when it had been drugged. This time however, there was no drug in the drink besides the alcohol that was there already.

The next thing that Maxine knew she was sitting on the bed in the room with Charles sitting beside her. He seemed to be touching her lip and as her mind began to make sense of things, she thought that he was taking advantage of her. However, she noticed that what he was using was a small cloth and the only part of her lip that he was touching was the area that had been split open when she had been struck. Rather than saying any real words the short woman simply grumbled.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" asked Charles. He watched as she backed her head a little and he lowered his hand. He knew that she wanted to speak and he was concerned about her. The bruise on her face was more evident than it was before and he had treated her lip as well as he could.

"W-Where am I?" replied Maxine with some confusion. The last few hours were a blur to her and she couldn't make heads or tails about what had happened. One particular sound that she could hear was the heavy rain from outside.

"You're in the room." He moved himself a short distance away from her as he thought that she would want space. "You were acting very drunk so I brought you up here. Also, it gave me a chance to treat your injuries."

"D-Drunk?" This only filled her with even more confusion. For as long as she had been drinking, she had never gotten drunk. "How many cups of ale did I drink?"

"One." This seemed to strike Maxine with more force than she had expected. She had suspected that with her new smaller body that she would struggle to hold her drink. If it had been three or four cups of ale that had defeated her in this manner then it would have been more understandable. But going down after just one wasn't just shocking but also embarrassing. "D-Did I do anything embarrassing?"

"If you mean standing on a table and singling about a little duckling, then yes you did." This got an annoyed expression from the short woman, if she had been her true size then he would worry for his own wellbeing.

"If I was making an ass of myself then why didn't you stop me?"

"I did, but you also looked like you were having fun and the other patrons seemed to enjoy your song and dance."

"I danced as well?" The rage inside of her was only building, but this time her anger was targeted more towards herself rather than Charles. "Not a word of any of this to my sisters, or my mother."

"What about your father?"

"Especially my Father!" The tone of her voice was a clear indication that she wasn't playing around. Charles heeded her words and simply nodded, when it came to matters involving her father, she never joked around.

"And furthermore..."

Maxine was about to say something else but then she felt an unpleasant sensation in her stomach. Almost immediately she knew what was about to happen as she got up from the bed and ran towards a nearby bucket. She ran faster than Charles had expected and he watched as she placed her head over the bucket and began to empty the contents of her stomach inside of it.

The smell wasn't very pleasant but Charles simply stepped over to her and rubbed her back. He knew that this wouldn't help too much but with everything that had happened it was all that could be done. It was still a surreal time for him and he wasn't even sure if they would succeed in their little quest.

"It's alright ma'am," said Charles as he gently patted her on the back. Her head was still hovering over the bucket. She thought that she had gotten most of it out of her system but there was a chance that there was more left. "You'll feel better once it's all out."

Maxine wanted to say something to him but she stopped herself, just in case she threw up again. A part of her thought about berating him for trying to help her when she felt like she didn't need it. However, she couldn't bring herself to do it, she simply appreciated what he was doing for her and for that she couldn't be upset.

There was around a fifteen-minute wait before Maxine decided that she wasn't going to be sick anymore. In turn Charles took the bucket out while she washed her mouth out. It was far from a pleasant experience for her and she was just glad that none of her family had been able to see her.

However, now that that she had gotten most of the alcohol out of her system like that, she began to notice something else. Since she was still wearing the same clothing that had been soaked through, she began to feel very cold. It got to the point that she began to shiver and she rubbed her body in an attempt to warm herself up.

This eventually led to her taking the dress off and placing it to one side. She hoped that it would dry overnight and carefully she crawled into bed. Even with the quilt over her, she still felt very cold but it was still better than if she had gone without. Cold was something that she had experienced more than once. Just because she had been very large didn't make her immune to the cold.

Something else that Maxine did notice was just how large the bed seemed. Normally when she lay in bed, her feet would be well over the end of the bed. There had been a good few times when not even her knees would make it inside. Not just that but the width would be a problem as she wasn't just taller than an average person but also wider. It was a reminder to her that she had been larger than a normal person, not taller.

This time the bed seemed so enormous that it threatened to consume her. Her feet were nowhere near the edge and she had plenty of room to move around. This was unusual for her but in a way, it was something that she didn't mind too much. In a way it was an advantage of being a short woman.

It was around this time that Charles returned to the room. The bucket had been emptied and he also made sure that it had been cleaned as well. He hadn't wanted the smell to linger for longer than it needed to be. He could see that Maxine was already in bed and he grabbed a pillow and a spare blanket that was close by.

"What are you doing Charles?" asked Maxine with some confusion.

"Just making my bed ma'am," replied Charles. He knew that he wasn't going to have a comfortable sleep, but it was what he was expecting.

"T-There's no need to do that. There's more than enough room in here for the both of us." This caught him by surprise as he looked over to her.

"A-Are you sure? I can sleep on the floor here if you want."

"No, you're fine. You've earned a good night's rest as much as me."

"As you wish."

Charles was still a little nervous as he climbed into the other side of the bed. In a way it felt nice to be sleeping in an actual bed. One thing that he had already decided on in his head was the fact that he wasn't sleeping with her because of romance. Instead it was for practical reasons as it was simply to keep himself warm and sleep in some comfort.

When he turned to look at Maxine, he noticed that she was already asleep. It seemed like the walk had tired her out more than he had expected but that wasn't the only thing that he had noticed. She seemed to be shivering under the quilt and he felt some sympathy towards her. Everything in her life had been turned upside down.

Just as Charles was about to go to sleep, he suddenly felt something wrap around his body. It felt cold and for a moment a shiver ran down his spine. When he turned around, he could see that it was Maxine who was still fast asleep. Her body was cold and it seemed that she had subconsciously wrapped her arms and legs around him in order to try and warm herself back up.

For the first few moments he did try and break free from her grip. At first, he was successful but no sooner had he released himself from her clutches she simply did it again and pressed the side of her face on his back. By this point he knew that there was no chance of him being able to break free for long unless he stepped out of the bed.

When Charles looked at Maxine, he could see a smile on her face and it seemed that she was happy. One thing that he was sure of was that he would not tell anyone else about what had happened. He knew that she would be very embarrassed by such a thing and thus he wanted to ensure that she kept her dignity. But there was something else that he couldn't help but think as well.

This was the fact that when they had first met, he had mainly stayed with her due to a life debt and he had actually been afraid of her. Although he knew that she had a temper he also knew that she was a just and honest person. His feelings towards her had changed, no longer was he afraid for her and now he considered her to be his only friend in the world. It wouldn't be too big of a stretch in his mind that she felt the same.