Chapter 1

Tryn shaded his eyes from the harsh sunlight, then bent back to work. He grimaced as his stomach once again growled in protest. He was sure noon had come and gone. He had been working since 5:00am on a meager breakfast and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could last. It had been kind of his uncle to take him in after his father and mother died in the fire, but his only motive for doing so may have been the free labour he would get out of Tryn. Tryn, at seventeen, was skinny, but stronger than he seemed. His uncle had found out soon that he could endure a lot more than others of his age and so had overworked him.
“I am not your slave, Uncle Damion!” He shouted to the field, out where no one could hear him.  As he worked with the hoe, he imagined the look on Damion’s face when Tryn grew and became bigger than his large uncle.  He would walk right up to him and say those words in his face.  Then he would walk out the door and there was nothing that Damion, Shaye and Fin could do to stop him.  Sienna might, if she tried, but Tryn was pretty sure that she would not try.
It wasn’t long until Tryn’s daydream took on the face of reality.  Tryn probably never would be bigger than his uncle, especially on the amount he was being fed.  Tryn’s father, Yan had always been a small man.  He realized that if he ever said what he was feeling to Damion he wouldn’t be walking out, he would be carried out on a stretcher.
He had killed his own parents; he didn’t deserve any better.  Again he wondered why he had done what he did.  He had always been a good kid; he had always obeyed his parents, until he hit the age of thirteen.  Now his parents were dead and it was all his fault.  It had been six months since their death and the burns that had covered his back and neck were healed, but the inner wounds had not. 
Not for the first time, Tryn spoke to his parents.  “Mom, I’m sorry.  I was just so mad, even though you were right to stop me from leaving with my friends.  If I had known what would happen, I would never have set the barn fire.   When I got stuck in there all alone, I never thought you would come in and find me, both of you.  You got me free, but I wish you hadn’t.  My life is not worth what you did to save me.”  Tryn kept plowing but his furrow was wavering.  He couldn’t see for the tears that were pouring down his face.
He thought of his father, wonderfully kind and never impatient, nothing like his big brother.  Yan had tried to teach his son everything, from cooking to knife-fighting.  But you couldn’t teach me to follow you like a good son.  Tryn thought miserably.
His mother’s face hovered before his mind’s eye.  All he could think was how much he needed her.  She was happy and a little sarcastic, but she could always comfort him when things went wrong.  Tryn bent over the plow and wept.  It was too hard, missing her.
He finally heard the dinner bell.  He angrily wiped the tears from his face and, steeling himself to once again face his uncle Damion, he walked inside the house.
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Tryn walked into the house, washed up and sat down at the table.  He expected that it would be a normal meal, eaten in silence with Damion glowering disapprovingly over all.  The silence was broken so suddenly that Tryn jumped in his seat.
“Tryn.” Damion spoke emotionlessly.
“Yes sir?” 
“You are eating too much.  You aren’t doing enough work to pay for your keep.”
Tryn looked at his uncle in open-mouthed astonishment, but figured the best plan of action was to dutifully agree.
“Of course sir.  I am sorry.  I shall try to work harder and eat less.”  Tryn wanted to cry.  He was practically starving already on the amount he was being fed.  Silently he calculated how much less he could eat without fainting in the hot sun.
“No, I don’t think that will work.”  Damion said dispassionately.  “I have decided to sell you in the next slave market.”  He paused to take a large bite of his sandwich.
“What?!!”  Tryn stood quickly in outraged amazement.
Damion’s voice suddenly became dangerous.  “Sit down boy.  We simply can’t afford to keep you.  At least if I sell you now, we might break even.”
“B-but I am not a possession, I am your nephew.  You can’t sell me.”
“What makes you think that gives you any claim on my affections?  I would sell my own children if I wanted.  It is just better for me to have them around right now, but if things change. . .why keep them around either.”
Tryn looked pleadingly around the table.  Damion sat like a formidable cliff; there was no sympathy there.  Shaye looked entirely disinterested.  Fin looked sadistically amused.  Sienna looked sorry for him but there was nothing she could do.
Tryn whirled and ran for the door.  If he was going to leave this house, he might as well leave it a free man.  His uncle was beside him before he had taken two steps.  Damion grabbed his arm, arresting his flight, spun Tryn to face him and struck him in the mouth.  Tryn fell hard, hitting his head on the wall.  He lay against the wall, dazed, his lower lip swelling and bleeding.  Tryn lay gasping on the floor.  He saw his uncle move and stand above him and he knew he was in for the beating of his life.
Damion kicked Tryn in the stomach and watched him writhing on the floor, retching.  He smirked and kicked him again, this time in the ribs.  Tryn felt something give way and a white hot spurt of pain shot through his chest.  He knew Damion was still kicking him but he was only half conscious and could hardly feel it through the pain that already filled him.
He dimly heard Sienna and Damion yelling at each other but he couldn’t catch all that they said.
“Stop. . .killing him. . .father don’t!”
“Sold. . .ungrateful. . .orphan. . .”  Tryn felt a kick to the head and then all dissolved into whirling blackness.
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Tryn groaned and slowly forced his eyes open.  Had he fainted behind the plow?  Why was it so dark?  Hadn’t they come out to look for him?  It hurt too much to keep his eyes open but he needed to see how far from the house he was.  He tried to turn his head but it hurt and he groaned again, louder.  He heard the rustle of skirts come closer and stop by his head, but he couldn’t keep his eyes open.
“Tryn, are you awake?”  A soft tearful voice spoke by his head.  He managed to open his eyes slowly and saw Sienna’s worried face above his.  Her cheeks were dirty and tear-stained but he thought he had never seen her look more beautiful.
Tryn opened his mouth and tried to speak, but he was hoarse and he found it difficult. “Where am I? What happened?”
“Don’t you remember Tryn?” Sienna asked him worriedly.  Tryn thought and it began to come back; the frightful beating and the voices shouting over him.  “You are to be sold next week.  We are in the cellar because Father does not want you to run away.”
“Like I could.” Tryn grinned ruefully.  “I’d probably take one step out of the door and fall over and wait for your father to come beat me again.”
“Sh, don’t talk like that.  Go back to sleep.  Father will be angry if you aren’t ready to be sold by next market day.”  Sienna smiled down at him.
“Why are you in here?  Surely Damion didn’t send you down here to provide me with a nurse.  He doesn’t care that much.”
Tears filled Sienna’s eyes.  “Did I ever tell you about Clayton?”  She asked him softly, turning her face away as if to hide her tears.  Tryn shook his head wordlessly.  “Last month, Clayton made an offer of marriage to me.  I refused him.  He is rich but he is a brute.  He has had five wives.  None of them survived beyond the first year because of the beatings.  I want to get married and to leave this home, but not to go to someone like Clayton.  Nothing could be worse than that.”
“Don’t change the subject.”  Tryn spoke gently.  “There is something that you are not telling me.”  He tried to sit up so he could see her face better but he soon gave up on that idea.  “Sienna,” he said again when she still did not speak.  She finally turned to him and looked at him.  Her face was full of fear.
“Father is selling me too.”
“What?!!  He can’t do that to you!”
“I’m not of age yet.  Legally, he can do whatever he wants.  I have refused marriage and so he has the full right to do what he likes with me, including sell me as a slave.  I am not entirely surprised.  I know he never loved me the way he loved Fin.  I know he wished I was a boy.  It just hurts to find out that I was right.”  Sienna’s eyes filled with tears.  Tryn reached out and stroked her cheek tenderly with his hand.  “I’m so afraid, Tryn.  How do I know what is going to happen?  I could end up worse off than I would have been with Clayton.  I’m holding out for hope, but it is so hard.”  She took the hand that was caressing her face.
“Sienna, I will do anything within my power to keep us together.  I will protect you.  No one will hurt you again.” Tryn said.
“That’s very sweet.  I have no delusions.  There is not much you can do, but you have given me hope.”  She looked at him, her childlike face wistful.  “I hope I get sold to someone just like you.”  She leaned over and kissed his forehead.  “Get some sleep,” she whispered softly.