Chapter 1

The girl's eyes widened as she tried to widen her range of sight. There, to the left of the river, tracks. She sunk into a hunters crouch, her black curls floating in the slight wind, as she followed the familiar tracks.

The girl came to a halt. Her pray insight, she braced herself, ready to pounce. Muscles rippled, hair flew as she pounced across the clearing. Landing perfectly, she raised her dagger, ready to give the death blow.

She struck. Her pray breathed its last and froze, never to move again.

As she crouched down to inspect her handy work, she began to relax. A rustle in the bushes cause her to tense again. She had to leave, now, go back to the boy she was sworn to protect. But just as she turned to leave, the rustling came again, bags, they must have seen her by now.

Pushing aside the panic that tried to overwhelm her, she reached inside her boot, feeling the cool calmness of her blade. She drew it, turning in a circle as she went. Noticing her empty hand, she clasped her agiel, letting the familiar pain calm her. Ready for a fight, she turned again, homing in on her opponent.

From the bushes a man jumped, wielding a sword. The fight had begun. Easily avoiding the blows of the sword, the girl ducked and pivoted her way to victory. Gaining the upper hand, she laughed, enjoying the look of frustration planted on the man's face.

"Adelaide stop!" a voice yelled from the forest. Stop, how could she stop, this man was going to kill her. Returning her concentration to the fight, Adelaide wondered if she should know this man, he seemed strangely familiar.

A body crashed into her, pinning her to the ground. Gasping for breath, she tried to dispose of this new enemy. Only to realise that it was the boy she was trying to protect.

"What in the name of the creator are you doing, I'm trying to keep you alive here", She yelled, annoyed that the boy had got in her way.

Scrambling to his feet, the boy offered a hand to his protector, saying "It's alright; he's a friend, a very good friend." Adelaide looked into his eyes and nodded, nobody could lie to her.

They turned to face the man, who was looking at the boy, trying to work out who he was. There was something so familiar about those eyes.

The girl spoke, "Renn, who is this man?"Renn, it was Renn, the listener, how could he forget him. He thought he could never forget the trouble that that boy gave him.

"Adelaide Amnell, I would like to present to you The Seeker of Truth himself, Richard Cypher", Renn spoke in such a voice that made Adelaide grin. Stepping forward, Adelaide took the Seekers hand, kissed it and said, "It's an honour meeting you Seeker".

Richard shifted nervously, hating the way people spook to him, reminding him that he was the air to the D'hara. Focusing on the girl in front of him, he finally realised something about her. Her surname was Amnell, she must be related to Kahlan, he thought, wondering how on earth she had come to meet Renn.

Reading his thoughts, Renn whispered what Richard was thinking to Adelaide. She sighed; she would have to tell the seeker everything now.

"Richard, I know this must seem strange to you, but you need to trust me, there is a D'haran quad tracking us and I don't think I can hold them off much longer" Adelaide was out of options, she had sensed the quad three days earlier but hadn't realised how close they were until she had found those tracks. There

was no way she could fight a D'haran quad by herself.

Richard nodded, "I understand, come with me and I can round up the others, I'm sure Kahlan will be happy to see the both of you." Adelaide cringed.

"Erm, Richard, she doesn't know that I exist, well she knows that I exist but she thinks I dies years ago." Adelaide implored to the seeker, wondering if he would notice the slight tremble in her voice as she spoke about the Mother Confessor. As far as Adelaide knew, Kahlan was not the sort to take the near

destruction of her kind lightly, especially to a girl who was protecting one of her friends.

Renn chose then to speak, "Adelaide, you can't fear Kahlan forever, you know Dennee wanted you to meet, and you know I do, trust me, I won't let her kill you."

"You are a friend of Dennee's?" Richard asked, trying to get her to tell him why Kahlan would want to kill her so much.

Ok, here goes, Adelaide thought "Yes I did know her, once, but I'm not going to tell you my whole life's story here, why don't I explain it to all of you at once when we are out of the open." Remembering that a quad was on Adelaide's tail, he nodded.

"Ok follow me", he said as he began to lead them back through the woods. Before Adelaide followed him, she stooped to the ground, picked up her prey, and began to follow the seeker and Renn.

As Richard and Renn walked further ahead, he turned to the listener, a question forming in his mind. "It's ok, I trust her with my life, she has sworn to protect me with hers and will no doubt do the same for you, she's just had an interesting childhood, that's all." Renn replied to Richards's thoughts as if they'd been

spoken out loud. Richard exhaled, "That's good, it's just, that she seemed like a pretty good fighter to me, and I wouldn't want her to hurt Kahlan" Just as he spoke the words out loud, another question entered his mind.

"Yes she uses an agiel and no, she is not a Mord'Sith, look her story is long and complicated. Just let her explain it herself, after all, it's her story, not mine. So, I'm guessing you and Kahlan haven't worked it out yet." Renn wondered why they hadn't got married yet, maybe they had been waiting to ask him to the

weeding, Renn laughed at his thoughts.