Attila explodes on the world, threatening to bring down the Roman Empire, and few can stand against him. Waldere is one, who, after escaping from Attila, and fighting single-handed, dispatches eleven of his attackers. Another is Aurelius, Britannia's rightful king, but in exile in Armorica. These heroes, and many others, join forces with Aetius, who has put together a shambolic army of allies, auxiliaries and and foederati, the last that Rome will ever field - but is it enough to protect the Empire from the fury of Attila? This is the second part of the English Dawn Pentalogy, which tells the story of the conquest and settlement of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century, set against the broad sweep of events in the Dark Ages: the decline of the Roman Empire, the rise of Attila the Hun, the raids by the Picts and the Scots, and the usurpation of the kingship of Britannia by the tyrant, Vortigern. These events are a prequel to the age of Arthur, and the final chapter of the pentalogy sees Merlin setting up the sword in the stone for the king who is to come.