Chapter 7

Taking the mask had been a bad move. Don Alejandro and Victoria were now speechless, so shocked they couldn't even close their mouths, which hung open while their brains tried to process the news: Diego is… Zorro?! At least, they had stopped bickering, but on the other hand, they were not helping to stop the haemorrhage anymore, as they were frozen on the spot.

Right then, there was a noise of horse hooves arriving at the hacienda. Felipe ran to the window. It was late in the evening and it was getting dark. He panicked when he saw the alcalde and a large group of soldiers accompanying the doctor. He ran to the front door and shut it close, securing it with a long piece of timber across, as a bar. Then he ran back and signalled Don Alejandro and Victoria to help him drag Diego's body to the library, to the fireplace. They didn't understand, and they still didn't move until they heard the alcalde screaming.

"De la Vega! Open the door!"

"The alcalde!" Don Alejandro snapped out of the trance, and helped Felipe to take Diego's limp body down to the floor. "Where are we taking him? Wherever, I'll follow you! Victoria, clean all the blood on the floor as we go along, please. Quick!"

Victoria's brain finally re-booted, and she followed Don Alejandro's instructions, still so shocked she could not cry a single tear yet. She grabbed most of the rags Don Alejandro had prepared and the bowl with warm water they had ready to clean Zorro's wound. She quickly wiped off the table and then she followed them cleaning all the blood stains along the way, mechanically, as an emotionally empty shell.

When they reached the fireplace, Felipe actioned the switch and the panel flung open. Don Alejandro was bothered by the idea that secret passage had been there all the time, but he pushed it at the back of his mind while he helped Felipe to get Diego downstairs. There would be time for explanations later, much later. The alcalde was still shouting outside, threatening to bring the door down.

"I have to go upstairs and open the door. I… I…" Don Alejandro mumbled.

"Go!" Felipe said.

That didn't help. Don Alejandro looked at him wide-eyed, with his mind finally blowing up.

"You can speak? Since when?"

Felipe shook his head. No, he couldn't. But the stress had helped him greatly to articulate the odd word.

"Go!" he repeated.

Don Alejandro finally moved away, but he came back quickly to hand over his waistcoat and shirt, which were soaked in Diego's blood.

"Hide this."

Felipe nodded and closed the secret door behind him. He tampered with the mechanism, so nobody could open it from the fireplace if accidentally someone touched the switch. The soldiers would surely search the house to the last corner.

Don Alejandro walked to the entrance door like on a dream. There were more blood smears all over the floor close to the entrance, and some more that Victoria had missed. The house keeper was there, wiping them off in silence, with a frightened expression on her face, fearing the alcalde was going to bring down the door on top of her head with all that banging.

"Thank you, María," Don Alejandro said, helping her out with the rugs. María was dazed by the unusual appearance of the old don, shirtless and bleeding from a small wound in his shoulder.

"What… what happened, señor? Are you all right? Where does all this blood come from?"

"Yes, María, I'm all right. Don't worry. I'll explain later. Don't say anything when the soldiers come in, please. Now, go and burn this on the stove right now, before they see them," he said, handing her all the blood stained cloths and rugs. He was about to open the door when he spotted another blood stain. He wiped it off and looked right and left, indecisive, until he placed that cloth over his wound and opened the door, hoping the soldiers had trodden all over the blood stains outside and the alcalde had not seen them in the dark. He hadn't.

De Soto stormed in, and the same as the house keeper, he was mesmerized by the sight of a shirtless Alejandro.

"De la Vega, what's going on? What took you so long to open the door?"

"I was in my room, taking care of my wound while waiting for the doctor."

De Soto glanced at the blood stained cloth he was holding against his shoulder, unconvinced.

"Lancers! Search the house! Zorro must be here!" The soldiers spread all over the place. "Search every inch of this property until you find him!"

ZZZ

Felipe and Victoria dragged Diego to the small bed in the cave where he had been sleeping for the last two nights. Felipe cut Zorro's black shirt to remove it and checked the wounds. He had a large exit wound on the right side of his chest, still bleeding despite Don Alejandro's efforts to stop the haemorrhage. He knew that wound had to be cauterized, so he went to set a fire on the small forge where Diego prepared and shaped Toronado's horseshoes. Then, he found a thin rod and placed it over the burning coal. While waiting for the rod to be incandescent hot, he looked through the spy hole to see what was going on. Felipe needed the doctor as soon as possible, as he didn't feel capable to poke into Diego's chest with a burning rod, but it would be impossible to use the secret entrance as the alcalde was sitting in one of the armchairs at the library while the soldiers searched the house.

While Felipe did all that, Victoria stayed by Diego's side, feeling strangely empty, her mind trapped in a dense fog, still protected by the shock. She just could not believe it, and kept telling herself this was a bad dream. Until she looked at the cut on the left side of Diego's chest, that didn't looked as fresh as the gunshot. That wound had been stitched at some point, but the sutures had burst, and the large gash was open again. She touched that wound lightly, and then she looked at her blood stained finger as if it belonged to someone else. She vividly recalled Zorro's gasp when she had hugged him, pressing her cheek against his strong chest, right on that wound, on that comfort spot she loved so much, and then he had kissed her as if there was no tomorrow, insisting he was all right. But that man didn't exist. That man wasn't Zorro; it was Diego. That little detail got her finally out of the shock. The intense guilt and grief she felt was so overwhelming she fell on her knees, sobbing and howling out of control, shaking like an autumn leaf in high winds about to be blown away.

Now she understood why he had insisted to know if she could love a man like Diego, and why he'd said he didn't know who his real self was. Now it all made sense. And the saddest part was that she could love Diego, because she had always loved him, and now she would probably lose both. How could she never realize before it was him all along? She had to fight the urge to bang her head repeatedly on a wall to get that uncomfortable guilt and embarrassment out of it.

ZZZ

Doctor Hernández followed Don Alejandro to his room. When he inspected his wound, he was surprised as it didn't look that bad at all to require his assistance.

"What happened, Don Alejandro? That wound only needs cleaning. It will heal all right without stitches."

The doctor looked a bit cross to have to ride all the way there unnecessarily. He wiped the wound clean, and stood up to leave the room.

"Doctor, don't go, please. Diego has been shot; that's why I called you." Don Alejandro hesitated for a moment before he continued. "He is Zorro, and the alcalde is looking for him. That's why he is escorting you, I guess, so you can't treat him."

"What? Your son is Zorro? Well, I am surprised he is Zorro, but not too much. I always suspected Diego could be the one," the doctor said.

"Did you, really? I didn't know, and I never suspected it."

"Didn't you?"

Don Alejandro shook his head slowly, the sorrow eroding him inside. No, he had never seriously considered that possibility. Otherwise, things would have been different. Really different.

"How bad is it?"

"Bad. He was hit on the back. At least you don't need to find the bullet, which has exited through his chest, but the wound is bleeding a lot. I couldn't stop it. Please don't go; you have to help him. Stay around the house. Hopefully, Felipe can find you somehow."

"Yes, I'll see him, of course. Where is he?"

"Unfortunately, I don't know where the other entrance to his hiding place is. There is a secret passage from the fireplace, but the alcalde is sitting right next to it, so you can't use it, and I can't remember where it ends. Somewhere at the back of the property, about half a mile away. If you come out undetected through this window, and walk to the back, hopefully Felipe can come and meet you, and lead you to my son."

"All right. Please, help me to climb out through the window. I'm not a young man anymore."

Don Alejandro helped the doctor through the window frame, and held him while he dropped to the soft ground below.

"Please, avoid the soldiers. They are looking for him."

The doctor nodded and walked away in the darkness toward the back of the house. A few steps on, he bumped into Sergeant Mendoza, who was searching in that area.

"Doctor, what are you doing here?" he asked, surprised. Then he added, whispering: "Are you going to help Zorro?"

The doctor nodded, serious.

"Go, then. Save him. I won't say anything."

"Really?"

"Zorro is my friend. Please, save him, but come back as fast as you can. The alcalde may grow impatient otherwise."

"I don't know where he is, nor does Don Alejandro. He is hiding somewhere around here, but we don't know exactly where."

"Find out where he is. I'll stay here, so no other soldiers come this way."

"Thank you, Sergeant. You are a good man."

ZZZ

Felipe grabbed the hot rod carefully, holding it with a thick glove. He approached Diego, but his hand was shaking so much he felt incapable to fit that bar into the wound. In the end, he left the rod on the forge again, and had a look through the spy hole one more time. The alcalde was still at the library. Felipe signalled to Victoria, who was still crying on the floor, but she didn't understand him. He gestured a "never mind" and then walked to the back of the cave and through the passage to get outside. Then he approached the hacienda, looking for the doctor. He walked close to Don Alejandro's window, and hid behind the bushes when he saw Mendoza nearby. When the doctor jumped out of the window, Felipe heard the sergeant's words. He let out a sigh of relief, and came out of the bushes to lead Doctor Hernández to Diego.

"Felipe, there you are! Where is Zorro?" the doctor asked. The youngster took his sleeve and urged the doctor to follow him into the darkness. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he said to Mendoza.

"I'll be here. Hurry up!"

ZZZ

De Soto waited patiently at the library while the doctor treated Don Alejandro. The soldiers had finished searching the house, and while some had a look at the barn and the other buildings, the rest had surrounded the house, guarding it in case Zorro came to get help. Although he may already had some help, as Victoria and Felipe had disappeared.

The alcalde was confident this time he could apprehend the masked outlaw, and even there was a chance he would die in his hiding place, unattended, and then he would cease to be a pain in his backside. De Soto laughed at that idea, initially. But then, he had the disturbing feeling of his conscience telling him that man, whoever he was, didn't deserve that kind of dead. For a moment he felt bad because he was trying to prevent an injured person to get medical treatment. But he pushed that thought to the back of his mind, telling himself Zorro was a criminal.

He stood up and paced up and down the library, stopping to look at the title of the books on the shelves.

Doctor, what's taking you so long to treat that scratch?

ZZZ

Diego was semiconscious now, agitated, gasping for air and shaking his head on the pillow, right at the worse possible moment because the doctor needed him to be still to cauterize the wound. He looked extremely pale and febrile, although his skin was clammy and cold instead of hot. Victoria was by his side, holding his right hand, and he grasped at hers tightly.

"Felipe, Victoria. I need you to hold him still. It won't be pleasant, but I really need to do this, and he needs to be still. Can you do that?"

The doctor was waiting with the hot rod already in his hand, waiting for their response. They nodded, holding Diego's arms and legs down as they could, bracing themselves for what was about to happen.

Doctor Hernández applied the hot rod to the wound, digging inside as deep as he could to cauterize the bleeding blood vessels in Diego's lungs. His response was immediate: he cried out and woke up with the pain, trying to get away from it. Felipe held him down with his whole body, leaning over his chest while covering his mouth with one hand to muffle the cry. Fortunately for Diego, the unbearable pain made him pass out again quite quickly, and he relaxed his body letting the doctor finish the job. Victoria fought the intense nausea she felt with the smell of burning flesh, and looked away clenching her jaw and closing her eyes.

When the doctor had finished with the exit wound, they turned Diego's body on his side, and the doctor also cauterized the entry wound at his back, applying honey to both ends. Then, he listened to Diego's chest and shook his head, worried.

"He's got too much fluid sitting around the lungs. He can't breathe. I need to drain some fluid out."

He collected a large metallic syringe from his bag, with a long needled attached to the end. When Victoria saw the doctor draining blood from Diego's back, she could not stand it anymore and fainted on the floor.

"That's as much as I can do tonight, Felipe. I have to go now, or the alcalde will grow suspicious. Try to make him drink as much bark infusion as you can, and keep him propped upright so he can breathe a bit better." He helped the youngster to do this, placing some pillows and blankets at Diego's back. "He may have a chance to survive now that we have stopped the haemorrhage, but he has lost a lot of blood already. I'll be back when I can, when the alcalde is gone."

Felipe pointed at Victoria's floppy body lying on the floor.

"She'll be fine. She just fainted. Ignore her, she'll wake up soon. I have to go. Take me back to the hacienda, please. I don't think I can find my way in the dark."

They left the cave quickly. When they arrived at the hacienda, Mendoza was on edge, as the doctor had taken too long.

"How is he? Is he going to be all right?"

"I don't know, Sergeant. He has lost a lot of blood. I should have seen him sooner for a better chance. It may be too late." The doctor tried to climb up Don Alejandro's window but he was struggling.

"Let me help you," Mendoza said. He pushed the doctor up, worrying about what would happen if they were discovered. He would probably be court-martialled and punished for treason. Fortunately, nothing happened, and the sergeant breathed a sigh of relief when the doctor was safely back in Don Alejandro's room.

ZZZ

"How is he? How bad is it? Don't lie, please. Tell me as it is," Don Alejandro begged.

"I had to cauterize the whole wound, as it was bleeding too much. He had lost a lot of blood; I guess a large blood vessel was damaged in there. And I had to drain quite a lot of blood and fluid from his lung so he can breathe. He is in a bad shape, Don Alejandro, sorry. The next few hours would be critical, but I can't stay here with him."

Don Alejandro nodded, sad, accepting the bad news as well as he could.

"Thank you, Doctor. I really appreciate the effort you made and the risk you took to see him."

"Don't despair, Don Alejandro. There is still a chance he can make it. He is a strong man." They were about to leave the room when the doctor said: "Let me place your arm on a sling, so your wound looks more serious." He did that quickly, and then they walked back to the library.

"What took you so long? That is a simple, tiny, insignificant wound he has there. It should take you no more than five minutes to treat it," the alcalde said when they walked in.

"It was more complicated than that. There was quite a lot of material embedded in the tissues I had to clean carefully to avoid infection. Yes, it took me much longer than what I had anticipated at first. Now, if you excuse me, I have to go to see another patient. Señora González was on the first stage of labour more than four hours ago. I should check on her again." That was true, but he also wanted to get away to be able to come back later, and try to sneak at the back again.

"I cannot allow you to be out on your own tonight. You may be tempted to help Zorro, and this is my best chance to find him. You'll be escorted by a few lancers. Sepúlveda!" he called.

"Why not Sergeant Mendoza?" the doctor asked, hopeful.

"That sentimental fool? Don't be ridiculous, Doctor. He may let you go to help Zorro," the alcalde sniggered.

"Sí, Alcalde?" the corporal said, coming into the library.

"Corporal Sepúlveda, get three more lancers and follow the doctor wherever he goes tonight. If he tries to help Zorro, arrest them both. Is that clear?"

"Sí, mi Alcalde." He followed the doctor to the entrance door, recruiting some lancers along the way, while Don Alejandro sank in one of the armchairs at the library, exhausted physically and mentally. De Soto sat down in front of him.

"I'll stay here with you. As long as it takes until Zorro appears."

Don Alejandro looked at him, resentful, because until he could get rid of the alcalde he would not be able to check on Diego, and by the time he could finally do it, it might be too late.

ZZZZZ

A.N – For this chapter, I know I included some modern terms, like Victoria's brain re-boot. I know, it is a computer term, but that is exactly how I picture her, re-starting like a shut-down computer, LOL. Excuse me for that.

For popular demand, I tried to write this chapter as fast as I could, and I am posting it fresh from the oven, so I guess it will be full of typos. Sorry, I'll correct them later.

Thank you very much for all the kind reviews. I am thrilled you are enjoying this story despite the maiming. Please, keep reviewing!