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"Are we there?" asked Edeko. "Impossible; it is still twenty miles, or three days' journey." But the city was in sight, and the caravan quickened its pace. After half an hour the town appeared no nearer, but seemed, on the contrary, to grow more distant, to dwindle in size, and to sink out of sight. After another half hour, it had disappeared, and the blue lake also.
Edeko came up and pulled Orestes away through the crowds. "Attila is dead! May Jesus Christ be praised!" "Dead? That is Ildico's doing!" "No! she sat by the corpse, veiled and weeping." "Yes, it is she." "Yes, but these savages are too proud to believe that Attila could be killed by a human being!" "How fortunate for us!" "Quick to Rome with the news.
Edeko and Orestes had thoroughly rested from their journey in the guest-house. At noon, when they wished to go out, they found the door bolted. "Are we prisoners? Have we fallen into a trap?" asked the Roman. "We have not had any food either," answered Edeko. Then two voices were heard without: "We will strangle them; that is the simplest way."
As they were conducted to their places, a low murmur broke out among the guests, who talked in an undertone, and asked where the great King would show himself. Orestes and Edeko cast their eyes over the walls and ceiling without being able to see where the wonder would happen, for the childish and cunning Huns used to amuse their guests with surprises and practical jokes.
One leader of the caravan was a well-known Roman, called Orestes; the other was Rugier, also called Edeko. He was a chief from the shores of the Baltic Sea, and had been compelled to follow Attila. The two leaders had hitherto spoken little together, for they mistrusted each other.
But as they emerged on the wide plain, which opened out as clear and bright as the surface of the sea, they seemed themselves to grow cheerful, and to lay aside all mistrust. "Why are you going to the marriage?" asked Orestes. "Because I cannot remain away," answered Edeko. "Just like myself." "And the Bride the Burgundian did not dare to say 'no' either?" "She? Yes, she would have dared to."
The fortune of the man who first brings it is made." Orestes and Edeko departed the same morning. They never forgot this wedding which had brought them together. Later on they renewed their acquaintance, under other and still more striking circumstances. For the son of Edeko was Odovacer, who defeated the son of Orestes, who was no other than the last Emperor Romulus Augustus.
In the first street of tents, Attila's son and successor, Ellak, met the principal guests; he bade them welcome through an interpreter, and led them into the guest-house. "Is that a prince, and are those men?" said Orestes to Edeko. "That is a horse-dealer, and the rest are rats," answered Edeko. "They are monsters and demons, vampires, created from dreams of intoxication.
"We call it so, and do it always when we have a feast before us, in order to be able to eat more." "Cannot we at any rate go out?" "No," answered the Prince with the horse-dealerlike face. "One must conform to the custom of the country." So saying, he closed the trap-door. "Do you think we shall get away alive?" asked Edeko. "Who knows? Attila is composed of treachery.
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