"...As Summer's heat rose, the Byzantine armies beyond the imperial frontier seemed to grow listless and tentative. An eastern army rode into the hills of Hidjaz, but was unable to pin the Arabs down in battle. Instead, they were harried back into Syria. In the West, Theodora crossed the Visigothic frontier into Liguria, but quickly returned on hearing of a Lombard incursion in Dalmatia. And in the steppes east of the Euxine Sea, General Julian violated the Persian border in Hiberia, only to hurry back across after messengers informed him of a Slavic invasion. The various generals' worries proved unfounded, though, as the local forces proved capable of handling all threats -- crushing the Lombards, chasing off the Slavs, and driving a Vandal invasion of Achaea into the sea. The only imperial defeat was in Tripolitania. Elsewhere, the Lombards salvaged their pride by driving off a Gepid invasion of Moesia. Further west, Rome continued to hold out against the Vandals. And in the Pyrennes, the Basques were incited by jealousy and fear of their larger Visigothic neighbors (and some Byzantine gold), to cast off their previous alliance and invade and conquer Narbo..."
"Which Gold the Brighter?"
Although many chests of Visigothic gold had been delivered to the Basque court in the Pyrennes, and many alliances drunk to, war had broken out between the two peoples. The Basque king, goaded on by Byzantine gold, led his warriors out of the mountains and onto the plains of Narbo. Reinforcing his army's left wing, he descended upon the Visigothic light troops guarding their flank and drove them off. A Visigothic cavalry flank march could have swept through the unguarded Basque camp and turned the battle, but arrived too late. Instead, they found their friends stubbornly withdrawing from the field, driven off in a hotly-contested battle.
"A Lost Cause"
The Vandal warlord Huneric rode at the head of his army. His men were in high spirits, singing battle songs and vowing to quash the last Byzantine enclave in their territory. When they sighted the enemy army, their scouts brought in captives who informed them that Narses, the Byzantine commander, had fled Tripolitania to Egypt. The Vandals whooped in joy! Even the enemy commander knew his cause was lost. In the ensuing battle, the demoralized Byzantines were trampled like stalks of corn by the Vandal horsemen. Their general Tiberius was slain trying to rally them, but as Narses and the Vandals knew, the empire's cause in North Africa seemed lost.
"Rich Prize Denied"
Vandal seamen had long eyed its coasts, knowing Achaea would be a great prize. A base there would double the reach of their raids. Their wishes were finally granted when the Vandal warlord Godegisel embarked his troops and invaded its rocky shores. The Byzantine governor Theodore knew the stakes, and hurled his troops at the Vandal beachhead. Both generals fell in the furious battle. Finally, the Byzantines prevailed. The Eastern Mediterranean was still safe, for the time being.
"Byzantines Don't Buckle"
Far to the north, the Slavic warlord Piastes knew the time was now. After driving off the Byzantine invaders in Spring, it was time to reconquer the lands of the Volga. He knew his men feared the Byzantine cavalry in the plains, but he explained that they would be weakened and fearful after their defeat in Dneister. And for a time, it looked as if Piastes was right. When the Slavic flank march by their horsemen crashed into the Byzantine left, it looked as if the Byzantine army might buckle. But Diogenes men rallied, and in the end drove the tribesmen back beneath the trees.
"Unprofitable Foray"
The Lombard king was disgusted with some of his nobles, their saddlebags so weighed down with Byzantine gold that they refused to ride. He dug into his own coffers, and after countless hours around the council table, convinced them war with the empire could be profitable. He picked his first target carefully -- the lightly-guarded hills of Dalmatia. His trusted warlord Auduin was surprised, though, when his army stumbled instead upon the well-drilled army of General Maurice, who'd been ordered only weeks earlier into the province. Trapped in a narrow valley, Auduin did the thing countless Lombard heroes had done before, and charged straight into the enemy's maw. Lombard horses went down in rows before the Byzantine spears. The king's first foray had not gone well, and when Auduin's body was brought back on its bier, he knew the mettle of his Byzantine foe.
"Gepid Opportunity Comes to Dust"
Upon hearing of their old enemy's defeat by the Byzantines in Dalmatia, the Gepids leapt upon their horses and rode pell-mell into Moesia. Their feud was generations old, and an opportunity like this was not to be thrown away. Across the border, the Lombard king was once again forced to dig into his coffers, hire mercenaries and hastily arm recruits to bring his battered forces back up to strength. When the two lines of horsemen collided, confusion reigned on the battlefield. Charge and countercharge continued for hours, as the losses piled and the dust clouds grew higher. The Gepid warlord Asbadus was unhorsed and trampled unseen by friend and foe alike. The absence of his hand and will was gradually felt by the Gepids, as their lines grew more confused. They withdrew from the field, defeated, but only just barely. There would be another chance one day to renew this fray, they vowed.