About the Book:

The year is 410 AD. The story begins in the valley of Umbria a hundred miles north of Rome. Having suffered a glancing blow from the siege on Rome, Lucius and Bruné go north to a safer, quieter place.  She has been raped, and he lost all he knew and loved.

What these two young, beautiful people see and experience on their odyssey through the wild north becomes fodder for some of the great Germanic epics such as the Nibelungenlied, Beowulf, and the Volsung Saga.

The Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine River are on the move. The Emperor of the West is a virtual prisoner inside the walls of Ravenna, the city of Rome doomed, the northern border—the Danube River—has been breached. Half of Gaul is decimated, Briton abdicated, and most of Spain lost.

It is the beginning of the Dark Ages.

About the Author:

Howard H. Howard says, “I have literally and literarily walked the walk of this adventure: tasted the water in the aqueducts, stepped through the gates of old walled cities, traveled the old goat trails in the Alpine passes, sailed the seas, floated the rivers and entered the tombs of the ancients. Once having laid the foundation for this trilogy in libraries throughout Europe and America, I shifted to the artistic side of my brain. How did sack cloth feel on the naked skin? What did they really eat? How did they get through the winters? How clean was clean? What about sex and violence? With that I leave you to enjoy this raucous tale of adventure and intrigue at the beginning of the Dark Ages.”