• Her life was under attack by a man she didn't know nor did she know what she did to anger him, but here she was running through the forest that she knew and loved so well. Her long bright red hair trailed behind her looking like fire when the light would catch it as she ran. Bolts from a crossbow barely missing their targets, one got her on the under her emerald green eye, now she had blood trickling down her cheek making her run all the harder to get away. As she ran the trees were being filled by the bolts from the crossbow behind her.

    She ran until she nearly ran into a group of people she then realized one of them to be an old friend of hers by the name of Richard Cypher only he wasn't dressed the same and the three with him were quite different to those of the Westlands. Stopping to regain her step she looked in his eyes only for a second, those eyes showing fear. She didn't wait longer to talk as she quickly jumped back off the trail, just to avoid the bolts flying at her. How long had it been since she saw him in the forest near the boundary? She didn't know, but she didn't stay on it for long.

    Dashing to and from rocks she ran, while passing by a tree she had thought she was caught in the tree's branches only to realize she had been grabbed. Letting out a squeak like a squirrel being caught, before a strong yet feminine hand was covered over her mouth. “You're save.” The owner of the hand said, but she didn't believe it and started to hyperventilated in the grasp of a stranger, and finally passed out.

    She woke up very slowly finding it odd that she could hear voices, now come to think of it it's very odd hat she would be waking up at all. Then she remembered what had happened and was startled awake as she literally jumped up and out of some covers of a bed roll. Looking around frantically, she discovered that she had two women around her, one was in a white dress and wore her hair long about an inch longer than her own, the other was in red leather and her hair was in a tight braid. The one in red scared her to no end while the other seemed to hold command but she also seemed gentle.

    Scooting herself as far as she could until she came upon a tree that forced her to stop. She then placed her hands on her cheek , the one that had gotten the cut, and discovered that it was covered in ointment. “Richard put that on you, while you were unconscious.” The long haired woman said, she sounded kind, almost friendly.

    These were the two people that were with Richard, she hadn't really looked at them before she had taken off away from them. “You know him?” She asked in a meek voice afraid that the person hunting her would hear her and coming looking for her.

    “He's my husband.” The woman replied, with a smile.

    “I had heard that he married but not a woman as beautiful as you.” She said actually meaning the compliment.

    “Thank you.” She said with a very kind smile.

    “You know the Lord Rahl?” The woman in red ask in a serious manner, causing her to jump nearly into the branches above her.

    Regaining herself she finally spoke up. “I...I don't know him as Lord Rahl, but I knew him as Richard Cypher.” She saw Richard's wife nod and the red woman stiffen a little, she wasn't sure what that meant other than the fact that they both knew that name as well.

    “How?” the Red woman asked.

    Now she she started to feel anger towards the red woman but she kept it hidden. “He helped me when I needed it. I lived deep with in the forest around here. I also would follow him, with out him knowing.” She said lowering her head in shame, it was a kind way of saying she was a stalker, a girlfriend that wouldn't accept that the boy she liked was with someone else.

    The Red woman was about to say something else when the woman in white spoke up. “He's an excellent woodman how did you manage to not get discovered by him?”

    “That will take a lot of time, but all I would like to say right now is he can't see me unless he knows what to look for.” She said referring to a birth mark she has, of a charging stag on her rear, and unless someone would see her naked would know she had that mark and that it was always show no matter what form she would take.

    She looked up and noticed a figure coming into the clearing where these people had made came, he made her jump in fright and climb the tree into the limes, as for a second she actually thought that it was the hunter again.

    Looking down from her hiding spot in the tree she noticed that it was Richard and thus calmed down a little. He looked a little hurt but he hid it very well. “Samantha you can come down now you're safe with us, and the man chasing you won't but coming after you again.” He said giving her a smile.

    Taking a deep breathe Samantha leaped down from the tree. “I'm surprised you remember me. And what are those clothes?” She asked pointing at the black cloths he wore.

    “How can I forget the only woman in all of Westland that didn't want men helping her. And these are War Wizard garments.” He said over to her. “Samantha this is Kahlan my wife and Cara.”

    “War Wizard?” She pondered the words for few moment, her mother told her stories about War Wizards. “I heard stories about them. They have been around for ages.”

    “You've never been out of the Westlands, how do you know about War Wizards?” He asked her, it was so like Richard to ask question.

    “I missed you're questioning everything. Westlands seems empty without you sometimes. I know I haven't left the Westlands, I've been trying to get away from that guy before I tried anything new, but my mother told me about them, no not Liz, you know I never called her mother. My real mother before she died.” She said with a tear running down her face.

    She had seen Richard's mouth open to ask a question but knew what he was going to ask before he said it so he shut it and Kahlan covered her mouth as she was smiling. “Lord Rahl she knows you well.” Cara said.

    Richard gave Cara a look and then asked another question to Samantha. “Now what did you mean by 'I can't see you unless I knows what to look for?'”

    Samantha lowered her head. “That is a question I was expecting, Richard there has been hiding, actually my mother hid it except for telling two people Edward and Liz...” She paused to take a deep breathe and released it before continuing. “Richard the thing no body but those two people knew was that I'm a Changeling, the main distinguishing mark is a birthmark of an animal doing something. I have a charging stag, and I prefer not to discuss where it's at.” Expecting what came next. “No there isn't any history of Changelings because they erased it three thousand years ago, and the history we keep is our stories. We hid ourselves after that war to keep from being used, from being a fly on the wall thing. We were created to get information during that war as spies we could be a squirrel at a tent and hear plans of attack for the morning, scurry off and tell the army of what was happening, both sides had them but you can't shoot an arrow at every single animal you come across pretty soon you'd be killing your horses so some of the men became the horse or the ox. The women were the spied, as my mother said, women were the grace of the transformation while men seemed to be the strength, the only people who know which ones were the real animals and which were the Changelings were the wizards. We hid once the great boundary went up we wanted nothing to do with politics nothing to do with wars so we disappeared, and asked the wizards to make us do it in the history books, though I'm sure they missed some. There were two styles of living civilized in cities or wild in the forest many chose the later, my ancestors were one of them, I learned to be a bit of both.”

    She seemed to have stemmed his questions but she felt horrible she wanted to cry, wanting to tell her stories, hug Richard but she was afraid to now that he was married, she used to do it when she felt sad but now it felt different.

    Kahlan finally spoke up. “Why did you have to...” She started and Samantha finished. “... learn both styles of living.? Richard's heard the storied.” Samantha lowered her head, letting her hair hide her face as tears ran freely.

    “Only from what Chase told me from what he learned from Edward. You haven't told anyone about what happened that night he found you.”

    “Might help me to feel better, and you to understand why I feel so horrible.”