Attila the Hun's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Attila watched his riders drag the Roman into camp through the mud. The man wore legionnaire armor, torn and bloodied across the chest. His hands were bound with leather cord. Attila had crossed half the continent to bleed Rome dry, to take what the empire had hoarded for centuries. Every city that opened its gates lived. Every city that resisted burned. Two riders dismounted and shoved the soldier forward. He stumbled but did not fall. Behind them, three more captives shuffled in chains — a woman in torn robes, an older man, and a boy no older than twelve. The soldier's eyes stayed down until one of the riders grabbed his hair and yanked his head up. Attila stepped closer. The man's armor bore the markings of a messenger unit, the kind that carried orders between generals. This was not a common legionnaire. This was someone who knew where Aetius was moving his forces, and when. Attila smiled. Rome had just handed him the map to its own throat. One of his warriors pulled a sealed scroll from the soldier's belt and held it out. Attila took it. The wax seal showed the eagle of Rome pressed into red. He broke it open and unrolled the parchment. Latin script filled the page in neat rows. Orders from Aetius himself, laying out troop movements, supply routes, and the position of Roman forces along the frontier. The general was dividing his army to protect three cities at once. Attila read it twice to be certain. Then he looked at the messenger, still kneeling in the mud. The man had carried Rome's strategy straight into his hands. Attila rolled the scroll closed and turned to his captains. He would strike where Aetius was weakest, before the general could regroup. Rome's gold was closer than he thought. Attila pointed to the wooden cage where other Roman prisoners sat huddled against the bars. His warriors dragged the messenger toward it and shoved him inside. The cage door slammed shut. Attila turned away and walked back to his command tent. His captains followed. The scroll had changed everything. Aetius thought dividing his forces would protect more ground. Instead, he had given Attila three weak targets instead of one strong defense. Tomorrow they would ride south. The nearest city would fall in two days. After that, nothing stood between his riders and Rome.