Though substantially outnumbered, the Byzantine army decisively won the battle and forced the Kutrigurs to withdraw in bad order.
[3] Belisarius led a small force of 300 veterans, together with locally raised levies, to drive the Kutrigurs from the Theodosian Walls.
Belisarius decided to advance to meet the Kutrigurs and set up his camp a few kilometers from his opponent in Melantias, a settlement about 20 miles from Constantinople.
Upon encountering the Byzantines, the horsemen began to close in on the limited front of veterans but were then attacked by hidden wings of slingers and javelin men.
[4] At this point, according to the Byzantine historian Agathias, Belisarius used a stratagem to make the Kutrigurs believe that they were facing a sizeable force; he asked local peasants to scatter in the forest and hit the trees to make a lot of dust in order to scare the horses of the Kutrigurs.