In the year 410 AD, the Visigoths sacked Rome, setting the stage for a time that ranks among the most brutal, onerous, and immoral in western history. Most of the characters in this story lived; some were created. Lucius and Brune', two young and beautiful people damaged by the hostilities, move north to what they believe is a safer and quieter place. They end up in the city of Worms on the Rhine River. There, through Lucius' connivances, the Kingdom of Burgundia is founded. The evil Freya-Gund marries the king's son, poisons him, and becomes queen of the realm. Lucius discovers where Freya-Gund hid the statue she stole from Rome with the host of precious gems inside, and runs off with it and the king's daughter. Freya-Gund uncovers his crime and chases after them with a vengeance. What happens next takes Lucius to the mountaintop of intrigue in the world of the Visigoths and into the bowels of power of the Roman Empire. While the king of the Visigoths searches out a new home for his people, the Emperor of Rome hides, and the aristocracy of the city of Rome pray for deliverance, Lucius manipulates them all. He moves with impunity in a world that has flipped upside down. The Germanic tribes over-run the Rhine and Danube River borders; the Emperor of Rome is powerless; half of Gaul is decimated; Briton abdicates, and all of Spain is lost. For everyone in the West except Lucius Domitilla, it is the beginning of the Dark Ages. For him...well, we are getting ahead of the story. If you like historical fiction, you must read this book.