Free Casca 7: The Damned by Barry Sadler

here. Even if the man were still alive and sitting across from him, he wouldn't be able to recognize him, for many of the big noses here had the same marks on them and the same odd ugly coloration in their eyes.
    Ch'ing Li was careful not to contribute too much to the conversations taking place. It would be best if he spoke only when asked something directly and then make the questioner think he thought of the answer. He would be the shadow of Attila. Let the others claim the glory; he would know who was in control. When the time came, he would assert himself, but now was the time to make friends, if that was possible, with these foul smelling creatures.
    He would be polite and properly impressed by the vulgarians who seemed only to delight in the numbers of men they had butchered or the women they had raped. Animals! Disgusting brutes, but they would be useful.
    As he planned, he was the shadow by the ear of Attila, whispering in it while others stormed and raged. It was he who made Attila understand that Bleda would have to go, leaving him the sole master of the Huns. He had never laid eyes on the brother of Attila who commanded the western part of the Hunnish lands, but he knew that there had to come a time when they would be in conflict. He had to have only one in command and he had chosen. Bleda must die!
    It didn't take much for Attila to see the wisdom of his advice pertaining to a body with two heads. Attila said nothing, but Ch'ing Li could see the wheels turning in his mind. He was pleased when less than a month later, the word had come that Bleda had died of poison.
    Attila made his mind up fast, and besides, he had never liked his older brother much anyway. When they were children, Bleda had always teased and mocked the younger Attila.
    The changes Ch'ing Li made in the plans of the Huns brought them wealth they didn't even have to fight for. He taught them how to use the time honored method of the implied threat. From this time forward, he would direct them in long range planning, something the Hun never worried about before.
    The year now by the Roman reckoning was 434 Anno Domini. Attila and his brother had been in power less than two years after the death of their uncle, Ruga.
    They had turned the Huns into a force to be reckoned with in a remarkably short time. The Huns had existed as a partially united nation only, since the first true King of the Huns, Kara ton, had united the tribes of the Kutrigur and Utiger.
    Now Attila was the sole leader. He had been in total control now for two years and had accomplished more in that time, than had been achieved in the last forty.
    Ch'ing Li taught him the reasons for the unconscious successes of the Huns. How their movements of sixty years earlier had forced the Ostrogoths to move across the Dniester and pressured the Visigoths of Athanaris to go into Roman Pannonia. But the bulk of the Visigoths had appeared on the lower Danube after being beaten in battle by the Huns. They had appealed to Rome for permission to settle in Dacia. This was permitted by Emperor Valens who saw them as a buffer against the expanding power of the Hun. But the corruption among Roman officials, who were supposed to supply the Visigoths with food until they could gather a harvest, forced them to go to war in order to avoid starvation.
    When the Visigoths attacked, they were joined by others who had become disillusioned with the lies and corruption of Rome. To the strength of the Visigoths was added that of the Ostrogoths of Saphrax and Altheus. Many of their men, who had been serving under the standards of Rome, returned to their tribes.
    There was even a loose alliance with few independent tribes of the Huns and Alans who wanted in on the plunder. Several Roman armies were defeated in rapid succession which encouraged even more barbarians to join them, until they finally engaged the largest army yet fielded against them at a place called Ad Salice in the Dorogea. The Romans were slaughtered