Her first campaign alongside Attila occurred when the fragile treaty between him and Rome was severed. Centurion Claudius, leading a cohort of five hundred Roman soldiers, attacked the western front. Attila left his brother, Bleda, in charge of his fortified city while he led a group of six hundred seasoned warriors to crush this threat to his power.

Attiliana fought valiantly alongside him. Her demeanour in battle was one of utter fearlessness; she gave a stellar account of herself, which was well noted by the men. In the thick of the fray, her reactions were lightning-fast—parrying the swords of those who sought to slay her and putting them to death instead.

They returned victorious. Out of the respect she had won from the army, the men named her “Attiliana the Amazonian Princess,” after the legendary warriors in Homer’s Iliad. She embraced the title, for it signified acceptance and further linked her legacy to her father’s. Even her half-brothers, who had once despised her as a threat to their throne, now saw her as a true ally and welcomed her as one of their own.

On a subsequent offensive mission, she accompanied Attila to quell an uprising by a former ally, the Gepids, led by King Ardaric. Once again, she excelled. Attila looked upon her with fatherly admiration, concurring that the name Attiliana was now truly legitimate.

After Attila’s death in 453 AD, the empire fractured. While his sons stayed home to fight over the leadership, Attiliana headed an army of Huns to squash an Ostrogoth uprising. The Ostrogoths believed the transition of power was the perfect time to overthrow Hun supremacy.

Sadly for them, Attiliana proved to be as great a leader in combat as her father. She employed an offensive strategy rarely seen: a forward-acting team met the enemy on the battlefield and, at her signal, turned and feigned a retreat. The Ostrogoths, in their haste to make a quick end to the war, realized too late that they had been drawn into an ambush. Two cavalry charges flew over the hillsides on either flank, beginning a slaughter of the poorly defended army.

Her triumphant return led to a great celebration, firmly establishing her as a warrior leader. However, instead of welcoming her back, her brothers grew gripped by fear that she might wrest the leadership from them. They plotted her death.

Upon discovering their nefarious plot, Attiliana gathered a large breakaway portion of the army and fled eastward toward her mother’s homelands. Once safe within that region of the Hun Kingdom, they established a permanent residence. However, she still had unfinished business: she needed to find Mo Gwai and avenge her mother.

Word was put out, and it wasn’t long before a local came to claim the original reward of twenty gold pieces. Mo Gwai had grown stronger, commanding a band of two hundred and twenty-five fighters. He had become the scourge of the area, preying on the weak. He had established his camp in a protected valley with only one entrance.

To Attiliana, this was an ideal trap.

She planned to arrive unnoticed at dawn, box them in, and end their reign of terror. A week later, the task was complete. Mo Gwai begged for his life to be spared, but there was no forgiveness for his villainous activities.

She had him brought before her. After revealing exactly who she was, she did not hesitate to thrust her sword through his evil heart. Princess Sui Tang was finally avenged.

With time, the local people grew grateful for her presence. While she still dispatched raiding parties to the west, she had become their protector. Rome eventually sent an emissary, asking for her help to destroy her brothers and the Huns they led.

“I refuse,” she stated firmly. “Although they are my enemies, they are the offspring of my father. My army, despite the many Chinese who have now joined us, remains predominantly Hunnic.”

In the end, the Hun Empire collapsed under the weight of internal power struggles; the sons were unable to stop the rot they had incurred. Attiliana herself eventually succumbed to a deadly disease for which there was no cure.

Her passing at the age of twenty-nine was deeply grieved by her followers and her mother’s people alike. As she had requested, she was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in the foothills of her beloved country.