No family, no home. No one would care if I disappeared. I wouldn’t survive another year on my own. In a desperate attempt to survive, I volunteered as tribute to the barbarians after hearing they now accepted males. At least if I died, I would have done something good by sparing someone else. But it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. And when my protector abandons me for being unable to speak, I’m left floundering again until someone else steps up to take his place. He’s dangerous and scarred,