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“Hi, Remi”

“Hi, Sel included in a very iet the Latin inscription I e-mailed you?”

“Yes,” said Sel of one Are you going after it?”

“Yes,” said Sam “First, we need to knohere ‘the world was lost’ Albrecht was just saying there are a couple of candidates Go on, Albrecht”

“Well, certainly if Albrecht—”

Albrecht interrupted “We called because ant you to verify the facts, and, in the end, we’ll want your opinion too Our coe But Mr Bako has done a decades-long obsessive study of Attila’s life He’s probably got an incredible command of the details Buffs and fanatics can be powerful opponents in a contest of trivia”

“You said you sao possible s for when the world was lost,” Remi said “What are they?”

“One would be the battle Attila fought at Châlons-en-Chane, France, in the year 451 The Huns had advanced to the west through Ger cities The Roent of allies, raced to cut off the Huns’ advance They met on the plain at Châlons Both sides lost many men, but there was no conclusive winner This was the farthest west that Attila ever got If he had won a clear victory, he would have gone on and taken Paris, and then possibly the rest of France He would have ruled most of the area from the Urals to the ocean”

“What’s the other candidate?” asked Selma

“It’s a bit an a year earlier, in 450 Honoria, the sister of the Ro in Constantinople, the eastern Ronant by a servant Now she was about to be married off to a Roman Senator she didn’t like Her solution was to write a letter to Attila the Hun, asking him to rescue her Attila definitely interpreted the letter as ahi of half the Roman Empire”

“Was that really what she had in mind?” Remi asked

“It hardlyto let it happen He hustled Honoria back to the Western Empire, to Ravenna, Italy, where he had his court”

“Attila wouldn’t have put up with that,” said Tibor

“He didn’t,” Albrecht said “In 452, after his disappointment in France, Attila and his men went south and east into northern Italy They took Padua, Milan, and e ar Valentinian and his court to flee back to Rome”

“And Attila followed?”