A young merchant, returns from a trading mission to find his village beset by bandits. Lacking the skills and weapons of a fighter, Tarik attempts to bargain with the bandits for his family’s lives and freedom. A twist of fate leaves him caught between an ambitious bandit leader who desires to begin a new life, and a band of outcast barbarians, seeking enough wealth to return to the steppes as respected warriors.

Neither side trusts the other, but the bandits need the barbarians’ fighting ability, and the barbarians need the bandits’ knowledge of the area. And both groups need Tarik for his skills as translator and mediator. Seeking only to get his family out of this dangerous mess alive, Tarik finds unexpected allies and new dangers at every turn.

As the violence escalates, Tarik must decide how far he will go to escape the tangled web in which he is ensnared, using nothing but his wits, the help of his friends and his new found courage.