Gift of Chance - Carol Louise Wilde

 
Gift of Chance begins the saga of a man whose world will come to know him as Nagaro, meaning "Nameless Man." Not quite eighteen, he flees from something "better not remembered" and his memories are hidden from him. A family of fisher-folk take him in and he seeks to build a new life while relearning the ways of his world. But disturbing dreams soon prompt him to try to unlock his memory and discover what was done to him. He gets glimpses of a quietly idyllic life that was shattered by powerful men bent on controlling him for reasons he can only guess at. By the time the veil is fully lifted from his mind, he and his friend Taru have been captured by sea raiders and chained to oars on an enemy war galley. Now he must find a way to regain his freedom while keeping his past a secret. For the powerful men who hurt him must think him dead, and he means to keep it that way.