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Re clearly, but isn’t the treasure supposed to be the coffins themselves?”

“Yes, that’s part of it,” said Albrecht “Supposedly there’s an iron casket, and inside it a silver one, and inside it one old But they were supposed to be filled with the jeweled crowns and weapons and ornas and nobles and bishops that Attila defeated That would make quite a pile”

“The story sounds like quite a pile,” said Sam “A pile of—”

“Sam!” said Remi

“Saht,” said Albrecht “The only contemporary account we have of Attila’s death is from Priscus, the Eastern Ro and funeral, but mentions no treasure The treasure is first described by Jordanes eighty years later He was frooths People have searched for the treasure for fifteen hundred years and found nothing”

Albrecht sat in silence for ato be put off or discouraged by odds or reason He’s convinced he’s destined to find Attila’s to it”

“Let’s step back and look at this from his perspective,” said Reht relate to the tomb in some way?”

“I’ve just begun, but I doubt it,” said Albrecht “It’s true that the carbon date of the remains is around 450 CE and Attila died in 453 And a battle here at the center of the Huns’ territory may well have had to do with his death What happened after the death of Attila was chaos His three sons all had their own factions, and Attila’s generals had their own kingdo any of theed “All I can say for sure so far is that these casualties were not Romans They didn’t have the Roladius, the short, wide-bladed stabbing sword, or the scuta, the big shield that Roainst an enee”

“So the bodies at the site could be Huns and the fighting could have been related to the tomb”

“It’s too early to rule out very much, even that And if anyone ever finds the to for so else will stumble on it”

Sam said, “Let’s deal with the discovery you already have We need to give you a chance to complete your excavation safely”

“I don’t see hoe can do that now Some of Bako’s men were shot”

Sam smiled “Would that have bothered Attila?”

“Probably not”

“Then it won’t bother Bako He may even try to keep the incident quiet He can’t tell the police somebody stole his kidnap victim And for theanything new He’ll want you to get to work”