Double Trouble Part Five
Alejandro noticed Zorro's entrance first, gesturing with a smile as Zorro climbed down from the landing to face the alcalde.
There was no characteristic witticism or rebuke from the man in black, and immediately the alcalde gained the upper hand. Alejandro wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. The masked man took refuge behind the kitchen curtain, presumably driven back.
After a few moments, Zorro seemed to have regained his composure and re-entered the hall, lunging playfully at the alcalde, pinking his shoulder slightly a few times.
Alejandro was struggling to gauge what was going on. The fighting style was the same, but this was a man more intent on besting the alcalde than before. He seemed fresher somehow, less tired, as if he had just started the fight.
As the swords clashed together, Alejandro could see the alcalde murmur something at Zorro. This Zorro had a voice.
"The only worthy plan is a plan for equal justice," Zorro said softly, but the words travelled in the hushed silence. "Wherein the local Indians…. have the right…. to any profits…. from their own… land." His words were punctuated by the clash of his sabre as he drove the alcalde back towards the wall. He forced him to his knees, and turned to face the lancers with a table thrown against their swords.
With a flourish, the curtain blocking the kitchen from the main room of the tavern opened, revealing a mirror image of the masked man. Victoria grabbed at Alejandro for support as she gasped, "Zorro."
"Zorro…and…Zorro," Mendoza murmured in shock.
Alejandro watched in shock as the identically dressed men saluted each other, but as the shock wore off gradually, he realised that one was an imposter and likely to have caused all the problems the pueblo had faced during the week. He glanced around for Diego. Surprisingly, he had disappeared. He had really picked a perfect time to return to the hacienda for a rest.
Victoria watched the men anxiously. Which one was the real Zorro? There really were no clues. They both fought equally well. Both were grinning like school boys, much to her distress. One of the Zorros drove the other up the stairs, and pinned him with an expert throw of the sabre as he tried to climb to safety and possibly escape. Surely the man with the expert throw was Zorro. The playful tap to the other man's behind was definitely his style.
Alejandro drew in his breath as one of the Zorros knocked the other to the bar, forcing him onto his back. Get up man, he thought. Don't stay there. He sighed with relief as the Zorro rolled off. He almost grinned at the playfulness of the man who must be the genuine article as he advanced on the other, using a plank balanced precariously on a barrel. His fighting style never wavered, and he maintained his balance perfectly, after a few wavers. He had never seen anything like it.
No one was watching the alcalde, but they should have. There was the sound of a gunshot, and in the confusion, no one was sure which Zorro had been hit for a moment. In slow motion, one man toppled to the floor, and the balancing one disappeared. All eyes had flown to the fallen man, no one cared too much for the survivor. He slipped away.
"No!" Victoria screamed, and raced to the man's side. Alejandro tried to slow her, but she was too fast for him. He was in shock as well, and stood silently looking down at Victoria and perhaps her beloved Zorro.
"He's dead," she murmured. Alejandro had seen enough dead bodies in the battles he had participated in over the years, and he agreed silently with her diagnosis.
Part of him froze for a moment. What if he knew the man? He had always spoken like a caballero. Remarkably tall, there were only a few candidates for his identity. He glanced around the tavern, hoping to see his son, but Diego wasn't there. A chill went through him, and he shook his head.
"You killed him!"
"At last…Unmask him!" Mendoza hesitated, and then kneeled over the body. "Your duty, Sergeant."
Mendoza struggled a little with the mask, and then eased it off the dead man's face.
The face of a stranger lay there where the mask had been. Alejandro breathed a strange sigh of relief, and Victoria felt very puzzled. She had never seen the man before. Hopefully that meant something….surely that meant something?
"He's not that handsome," Mendoza said in confusion.
"That's because it's not him….Obviously some sort of accomplice," the alcalde muttered with frustration. He was so close, it had only been a chance thing. If he had just chosen the other masked man, the real Zorro would be dead at their feet.
The sound of hoof beats on the hard ground outside drew Victoria to the door. Peering out, she saw what her heart had longed for. Zorro was alive, racing his stallion towards the sign of Los Angeles. He noticed her, and urged Toronado on his hind legs, as he saluted her. It was just for her. There was no one else in the plaza. She smiled, before turning back to the waiting crowd.
"Zorro lives!" She said excitedly. Alejandro nodded with relief, and smiled at her.
