Wallia’s Quest Book 5 – A New Gutthiuda: A Goth’s Fight for Freedom in a Roman World

“My name is Wallia, and I am a Goth.” So begins the fifth and final book chronicling Wallia’s quest to gain freedom from Rome and a permanent home for his people.The story begins after Alaric and his Goths sack Rome. After stripping the city of its valuables, the Goths must decide where to go next. There is one obvious destination—Africa. This is the easily defended, incredibly wealthy, and fertile breadbasket of the Western Roman Empire. So, Wallia works with the Roman navicularii to find the ships his people can use to reach their destination. Unfortunately, Wallia is betrayed. The Goths then turn south with the intent of making Sicily their home. This island has many of the same advantages as Africa and crossing the three-mile-wide Strait of Messina will be a far less daunting task than sailing across the entire Mediterranean.But this doesn’t work either. Alaric dies. A succession struggle ensues. Eventually, the Goths come together again. With their hopes of crossing water to reach a new home dashed, they turn north. After wintering in northern Italy, they cross into Gaul to support a new usurper.A complicated series of maneuvers then occurs between the Goths, the Romans, the usurper, and his allies. Eventually, the usurper is defeated but, when the Romans renege on their promises again, the Goths rebel. During the subsequent war, the Goths are driven from Gaul and into Hispania. But they have a secret weapon to use against the Romans. The emperor’s sister, Galla Placidia, has a child with the Goth king. The infant boy is their hope for uniting the Roman and Goth worlds. But then, the child dies.Finally, after their king is assassinated, the Goths make an uneasy peace with Rome. Under the terms of the new treaty, the new Goth king will give Placidia back to the emperor and subdue Hispania for Rome. In return they will receive food and, after Hispania is subdued, a permanent homeland.Only an unlikely partnership between the newly crowned Goth king and the military master of the Western Roman Empire can give the Goths peace with Rome and the homeland they so desperately need. Will the new agreement finally end the forty-year Goth migration? Or will the feckless emperor repudiate this agreement—as he had with every previous treaty? Wallia is one of the two central characters in this drama. For forty years he has experienced, first-hand, the constant perfidy of the Romans. These experiences have taught him that force is the only way his people will ever get what they need from Rome. But his current situation calls for different skills, tactics, and strategy.Will Wallia be able to do what is needed to give his people peace, freedom and a permanent homeland? More importantly, will this time be different? Will the Romans work with the Goths to give them what they need? Read more