Hurried, she directed her horse behind her uncle through the narrow streets of the city. It was busy on the streets, everyone either bringing supplies to the city walls, or closing up their houses.
An hour ago, the bells had rung. The bells of alarm. The bells on which the gates of the city are closed and the soldiers are sent to the ramparts.
She climbed the stairs to the top of the walls and peeked over the crenellations. Outside, she saw soldiers. Rows and rows of soldiers. The dust from their march was still settling down.
The forces of the Fratelli's had arrived. The rival family had gathered allies to overthrow Florence. And now their army was in front of their gates.
Her uncle and Philippe also appeared on the ramparts.
A horn of negotiation sounded, and she saw some movement in the troops. From among the ranks, Marco and his nephew Lucca Fratelli came forward. Weighty, and beaming with confidence.
They halted in front of the walls, looking up at her uncle and Philippe.
'What do you want?' her uncle said, loudly.
Marco and Lucca looked at each other and laughed. It stayed silent for a while. Then Lucca, about 30, took the word.
'Well,' he said, with a loud and heavy voice, smiling viciously. 'We want Florence to surrender and the tirant Cadici's to be banished and never be seen again!'
Nervous, she looked at her uncle, and at the reaction of the other nobles on the walls.
'We can't surrender to them,' a noble said. 'They will sack the city!'
Not everyone was their friend, but not one noble seemed to favour the proposal of the Fratelli's. Even if they were suffering now, they knew the Fratelli's would make things much worse, if they took power.
The gonfaloniere, chairman of the parliament ruling Florence, took the word.
'We can not accept these terms,' he replied loudly. 'Turn your forces and leave this place!'
'Leave?' Lucca exclaimed. He laughed. 'We have food for months and warm tents with us. We are in no rush.'
'You on the other hand, would do better to listen to our demands.' He continued. 'We won't rest until the Cadici are undone. If you don't want to surrender Florence... give us the bitch who sold our Florence to the French!' he yelled brutally.
Her hands got cold and chills went down her spine.
'You can rest assured that we will leave the rest of the city and its residents unscathed!' she heard Lucca add in the background.
Shocked and questioning murmuring broke out on the ramparts. Her uncle exchanged words with Philippe and an advisor. What were they going to say? They couldn't just give her to them, could they?
'Why?' her uncle replied. 'To do what, with my niece?'
Lucca laughed again. He looked suggestively around to his troops, as if preparing them for something. Then he looked back, raising his eyebrows.
'To be paraded naked, and be given to the soldiers for their pleasure,' he growled, cruelly. 'As the whore she is!'
His words thundered over the ground between him and the city. Her heart froze and her knuckles turned white as she braced herself with both hands on the wall she was holding. She knew Lucca from when they were children. He had even courted her when her father was still alive.
Faintly, she registered how an indignant clamour broke out amongst the Florentine nobles on the walls. But soon they were drowned by an eardeafening calling outside the walls.
'Strip her!'
'Lower her down now!'
'We want to see her naked!'
The troops roared and cheered. A rythmic scanding arose.
'Hand her over! Hand her over! Hand her over!'
