436 AD. Rome is dying. The Huns are on the move, and Roman fights Roman for control of a decaying empire. All is seemingly chaos. Only Flavius, a half-German Imperial officer, has discovered the truth: an ancient race from the depths of the German forests is secretly destroying the Empire from within. Still worse, their immensely old leader, the Mage, has ordered Flavius to slay Rome's chief ally--Gunther, King of the Burgundians. The young officer wants no part in this "mission," wants only to stop the Mage. But coming to grips with this particular foe may not be so easy, not when the Mage is less than three feet high--and possesses enough gold to buy the Empire twice over.

Given poison to kill King Gunther, Flavius tries to flee his sinister adversaries. But at every step the Mage's followers force him back on the road to the kingdom of the Burgundians. By the time Flavius reaches the court of King Gunther, he is convinced that the Mage's power extends to every corner of the Empire. The Roman officer finds easy entrance into King Gunther's elite war band. But Flavius soon finds himself in a court where no one can be trusted: not the savage, voluptuous warrior-queen Brynhild, not the king's grim adviser, Hogni, nor even the woman Flavius most desires, Gutrune, Gunther's tall, golden-haired sister. In the end his contest with his unseen foes leads to the barbaric court of Attila, King of the Huns--for a rousing climax beyond the bounds of the civilized world.