She launched to her feet, yelling at the barbarian who held me cradled against his chest. I didn’t understand anything that they were saying, and the older barbarian didn’t speak my language either when he joined the conversation. All I could focus on was the fact that the barbarian’s arms didn’t even tremble, holding my weight the entire time they argued with each other. Like I wasn’t at all heavy to him.
I knew that wasn’t true. It was one of Richard’s favorite things to torment me about. I’d always been chubby. Even as a kid, I weighed the most. Combined with my short stature, it made me the center of plenty of ridicule. Even when I had agrowth spurt and my weight balanced a little, I was still thick. And yet the barbarian didn’t even have to readjust me. Was my weight negligible to him?
The barbarian’s voice grew louder, more determined, and his grip on me tightened as he took a step back. Frightened, I looked at the other two. The woman shot me an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry. He’s not going to hurt you. He says you need a protector and won’t let anyone else take the job. I told him you aren’t a tribute, and it doesn’t work that way for visitors, but he’s refusing to see reason.”
I didn’t know much about tributes, but there weren’t any male ones, that I knew about anyway. Besides, I hadn't volunteered for it, even if there were. I wasn’t supposed to be here. The terrifying creature in the forest had herded me in this direction, and I accidentally ended up here. But now a barbarian was determined to keep me here, despite my protests and the protests of the woman who was trying to help me. And before anyone could get him to listen to reason, he ducked out of the tent and stormed off with me in his arms.
I was trembling when he brought me into another tent. This one was smaller. It looked like it was only meant for one person. It had a messy pallet of blankets, a small wooden chest, and a table with a lantern on it, but that was it. When he set me on the bed, my panic compounded, and I tried to lunge away, tears streaming down my cheeks.
“No, no! Please!”
The townsfolk said plenty about how the barbarians forced themselves on the tributes. If he saw me as one too, he’d treat me the same way.
All of this because I was too stupid to realize Richard was playing me for a fool. I should have ignored his request and gone home. Was I truly so desperate for affection that I lost my mind the minute someone treated me with any form of kindness?
It hurt, trying to get away from him. My leg burned with white-hot pain. But I couldn’t just sit there and take it. I slapped at his hands as he tried to grab me, tears streaming down my face. He was saying something, and it almost sounded like he was trying to soothe me, but I couldn’t understand the words. For all I knew, he was telling me just to not move and take it.
For a split second, he got the upper hand, knocking me back and pinning my wrists against the bedding. He spoke again, shaking his head, but he couldn’t get more than a few words out before his weight disappeared, and he was gone. I sat up with a cry, scrambling to get to my feet so I could run for the exit, but my right knee buckled when I tried to put weight on it, and I collapsed near the flap of the tent.
The flap ripped open and the woman from before hurried in, helping me to turn over. I clutched at my knee, gritting my teeth against the pain. It was so intense, it made me feel nauseous. When the woman tried to touch it, I pushed her hands away, choking on sobs.
“P-please! Just let me go! I’m sorry! Just let me go!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You’re too hurt to go anywhere right now. I’m sorry. You’ll have to stay here for now.”
Here? Where a barbarian carried me off to his tent to do god knows what to me while ignoring everyone else? Where I could still hear him shouting and arguing with whoever was outside the tent? I’d rather deal with the pain and take my chances in the forest.
Suddenly, I heard a yelp and the sound of a scuffle before the world outside the tent went quiet. I held my breath, terrified, and for a few moments, it was quiet before footsteps approached the tent again. But the man who poked his head in wasn’t who I was expecting. He was too small to be a barbarian. He barely looked old enough to be considered an adult. He had wide blue eyes and curly hair that was shaved on the sides, and whenhe stepped fully into the tent, I could tell he was shorter than me. Shorter, more slender, and a little shy, biting his lip as he bounced on his toes.
“Wh-who are you?”
He offered me a small smile. “I’m Finn. The first male tribute.”
Four
“B-but tributes are only female.”
I didn’t understand. I’d never heard of a male tribute before.
He nodded and shrugged. “They were. Until me. I came to the clan during the last tribute gathering. Orthorr thought talking to me might help you since Verus won’t let the whole protector thing go. My bondmate took him to cool off, so we’ve got a minute. Are you okay?”
I was… confused. And scared. None of them acted concerned that the barbarian who took me wouldn’t let the idea of a protector go. I didn’t know what it meant, and after the way he pinned me, I was afraid it was something they’d just come to accept. I didn’t want to accept it. I’d gone my whole life without being touched like that. I didn't want my first experience to be forced and traumatizing. I’d been traumatized enough after what happened with Richard. I just wanted to escape and find my way to a town that would accept me.
“He’s injured,” the woman answered for me. “I didn’t want to undress him before he was awake to consent, but his leg is obviously hurt, and what little I could see of the bruising in the rip of his trousers, I’m worried it might be broken. I’ll need toset it and wrap it up, and check for any other injuries. Iplannedto do it in the healing tent, but then Verus lost his ever-loving mind.”
Finn made a face. “Yeah, I’ve never seen him like that before.” He turned to me and smiled softly again. “He’s taken a liking to you.”
“I-I don’t want him to like me! I don’t want to be here! I need to leave before he comes back! Please!”
Finn grimaced, shaking his head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. He’s not going to hurt you. I know the rumors about the barbarians say otherwise, but they don’t rape people here. At least not in this clan. I haven’t actually met any others. But here, it’s considered a heinous crime, and it's punishable by death.”
“Then why—” I gestured sharply to the bed where the barbarian pinned me down.
“He brought you here to his tent because that’s what they normally do when a new tribute arrives,” Finn explained with a sigh. “Tributes get assigned a protector, who keeps them away from the clan for about a week so they can acclimate without getting overwhelmed. Their protectors teach them the language and things about the clan and keep them safe.”
That sounded weird, because what if the barbarian was dangerous? They could be hurting the women for a week straight without anyone knowing.
