Mariela's Battle for Palermo Secrets

The streets of Palermo were empty, but the sound of horses’ hooves echoed off the buildings. Mariela held her breath. Several riders had passed by in search of the outlaws that had been plaguing the city for almost a month now, and she didn’t want to be found. In fact, she was sure she was lost in this maze of alleys and dead ends. She would have preferred to travel on horseback like her mentor, Vito the Wolf.

But while he was still able to ride his favorite black stallion, Mari was not so lucky. Her last horse had broken its leg and she would have died if Vito hadn’t brought her back to their hideout to rest. But as soon as she was well again, Vito had insisted that she learn how to sneak around without a horse. He said it would be useful when they weren’t in Sicily where everyone knew them. So he gave her some basic lessons and then told her to sneak out on her own before morning. If he caught her, there would be consequences.

She hadn’t wanted to do it alone, but she certainly wasn’t going to let herself get caught sneaking out with him again! Anger pushed away the fear of being captured and she decided to wait until dawn before finding her way home.

The moon was high in the sky now and she could see well enough to find her way through the maze of alleyways in front of her, but just as she began walking towards what looked like a road, more men appeared at the end of the alleyway behind her.

They wore heavy armor and carried lances with sharp tips made of metal. She put her hands up immediately when one pointed his weapon at her heart and yelled something in Italian that sounded like “Halt!”

Mariela froze, unable to move or speak a word until another man came riding from behind them shouting orders at them in Sicilian, telling them that it was just a girl and it wasn’t worth getting killed over. He grabbed one of their lances out of all four hands and shoved it into the dirt between them before taking off after his friends who were already gone beyond an archway where the street curved around a building. The four men ran after him yelling curses at him and each other for disturbing their sleep before disappearing around the corner too.

Mari let out a sigh of relief, but realized that now that those men were gone, there were fewer people blocking her way out of this alleyway into a wider street where more soldiers might be waiting for her on patrol. And even if they weren’t there yet, they might soon return if they heard more shouts or cries for help from someone else.

She put her hands back up when another pair of riders suddenly came riding down the same path through which those soldiers had just disappeared moments ago—straight towards her! She started running towards the exit of the alleyway while trying to figure out what direction led back home as fast as possible because there was no time left now to think about it!