In the scorched heart of Khal'Marra, where the sun hammers stone by day and the cold gnaws bone by night, a boy returns from his manhood trial to find only ash.Turoa's coming-of-age ritual should have been his triumph. Sold to the brutal arena pits of Emberhold, he's reforged from a tribesman into the Ghost of the Ashes, a gladiator whose silence speaks only in blood. But when a single act of mercy brands him a liability, Turoa must escape the only life he knows. With a stolen blade, a river stone talisman, and an unlikely brotherhood forged in desert sun, Turoa will lead the broken and hunted toward a legendary refuge the Shattered Shield. But Jareth al'Amethyst will not let his property vanish. His bounty hunters stalk the wastes. And the Crescent Legion marches east-ready to grind hope into dust In a land where mercy is weakness and freedom is a death sentence, one ghost must become the foundation of a new tribe-or watch his second family die like the first.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━FOR READERS WHO LOVE: - Underdog rises from slavery/arena combat- Desert survival against impossible odds - Broken warriors learning to build, not just destroy- Found family forged in fire and blood- Fantasy where every victory has a cost, and mercy is the hardest currency