Chapter 11 - Traces
The next day Alejandro and Felipe met with Victoria outside of the pueblo for a ride to the former Indian campsite. Felipe had agreed to lead them there and show them what he had found out.
There had been a some talk between Felipe and Alejandro the night before after Alejandro's return from the tavern though the talking had been Alejandro's part and Felipe had made his signs.
Felipe was relieved that the secret was out now and he no longer had to lie to his father which improved his condition. Now they could share their fears and grief and Felipe had no longer to bear it alone.
The ride south was tiring and nobody was in the mood for talking and they spent the time in silence each one brooding to himself.
Victoria had heard of the fire from the lancers in the tavern, but she hadn't expected the sight so devastating.
The camp site was nearly the same as it had been left by the Indian tribe four weeks ago. It was no longer used as campsite by other tribes who honored the remains of the dead by leaving them untouched and were also afraid of revenging ghosts if they were disturbed. The remains of the camp were still perceptible, but what the fire had not destroyed was now scattered by the wind. They dismounted and slowly approached the remains in the center.
The cold bitter wind was blowing into their faces and brought additional tears into their eyes. A few steps before the center they stopped looking silently at the burnt ground. What once must have been a big funeral pyre was now only scattered ashes and some indistinguishable parts that the fire had not consumed.
"Where have you found the conchos, Felipe?" Alejandro broke he silence.
Felipe pointed at the ground where some molten metal parts could be seen.
Victoria leaned on Alejandro for support and was silently weeping, her hands covering her face. Alejandro tried to comfort her as best as he could before he led her to a big boulder to sit on. He was at loss for words. This was probably the place where his son Diego had died and there was nothing more horrible than that.
But he remembered the promise he had given this woman and himself. He would do everything possible to find out what had happened to Diego. Pulling himself together he investigated the field together with Felipe who explained him his findings and where he had searched for traces.
Most of the traces were gone now and Alejandro's cursed himself that he hadn't found out earlier that Diego was Zorro. Maybe there had been traces that Felipe had missed, but from the explanation Felipe gave him, he had been very thorough and showed an extensive knowledge of reading traces.
Diego had obviously been a good teacher and an even better actor when it came to reading traces together with his father. Alejandro shook his head when he remembered the times when Diego had pretended to be stupid or got lost, smiling inwardly at the joke of being misled by the best tracer in the area.
After further investigation of the site proved to be fruitless Alejandro persuaded his companions to return to the pueblo. Both were reluctant to leave, Felipe wanted to keep on searching though he knew that there was no more information to be gained and Victoria didn't want to leave the place that was probably the grave of her love.
"Victoria, we cannot remain here. I know you don't want to go, but there is nothing more we can do here. We should respect the dead and not disturb them more than necessary. When we have returned to the pueblo, I will try to find out everything I can about this tribe and after I have found them, I will ask them what has happened to Diego. And if there is just the slightest chance that he has survived, I will bring him back and if not we will at least know the truth."
"Thank you, Don Alejandro," Victoria whispered gratefully, any of them had much hope, but each of them tried to cheer up the other by pretending it.
The return trip was even more silent than the journey there.