Chapter 11

Whether it was the excitement of the coming ceremony and the preparations to move into their official residence or if it was the planning the search for the Andalusian horses or that they were just simply unlucky, but whatever the reason, their guard was lowered and de Toledo took the opportunity to eliminate de la Vega for good.

Diego was standing at the dining table with his father beside him while Teo and his uncle were on the opposite side and between them was a large map of Spain. "So where do you think I should start my search. Should I go to the north first or south to where the monasteries are?" He asked with a slight frown on his face as he looked down at the map.

"I think the south." Salvador said as he gazed at the map.

"What about the North?" Don Alejandro said. "Once word gets out that you are searching for the horses, it will be very easy for people to hide them across the border and out of your reach."

Teo stroked his beard as he thought about it. "That's true but it's just as easy to load them onto ships and take them across the sea."

Diego nodded. "It will be totally impossible to find every single one but as long as we recognise the fact that there will be people who will conceal the horses from us and accept that there's nothing we can do about it except hope that it's not too widespread."

"You're right Diego, there's not much you can do unless you want to involve lancers and force them to hand over the horses." Don Alejandro said even though he knew what the answer would be.

"No, I don't want violence." Diego replied sharply.

Teo frowned slightly. "You may not want violence but not everyone is going to hand over their best horses willingly, even with a written decree from the King. I would like to suggest that we take a squad of Royal Lancers with us, not only for protection but also for a show of force as it were."

For a moment there was silence between the four men before Diego sighed as he realised the necessity of having lancers with them. "Very well then, we'll take the lancers with us as well as a number of vaqueros to help drive any horses we feel is best suited to breeding."

"Maribel's brother has a large estate just south of here and I'm sure he'll be willing to let you have some of his men. That way, you'll know that they are trustworthy." Salvador suggested.

Diego nodded. "Thank you Uncle that would be a great help. Now where do we begin?"

Teo nodded as he traced his hand over the southern part of Spain. "I agree with Salvador, I think it would be best to start with the Carthusian monasteries here in Seville, Jerez and here at Cazalla. These have been the official stud farms for hundreds of years and therefore they will have the most knowledge of not only their own stock but of where other smaller studs might be located. The only problem is that they have a reputation of being closed mouth; the administrators of the monasteries see it as their right to be the only ones with this knowledge and you may find resentment amongst them."

Diego smiled wryly. "Yes, I can imagine they wouldn't like an outsider coming in to re-organise the entire operation."

Don Alejandro nodded. "Not to mention the fact the King didn't trust the job to one of their own; it would be like a slap in the face for the monks. You will have to tread carefully and be diplomatic, son." he advised.

"Aren't I always father?" Diego replied with a teasing gleam in his blue eyes.

Don Alejandro snorted but before he could say anything about his son's ability to seek out trouble, there was a loud banging on the front door with shouts of urgency.

The four men looked at each other before they made their way out of the room. As they turned the corner that saw Ignacio struggling to hold Felipe upright; the younger man was bleeding from a head wound, while Ignacio himself ignored the pain in his right arm where he had been slashed by a sword.

"Felipe!" Diego called out as he rushed up to his son and took Felipe's weight from Ignacio. "What happened? Where's Victoria?" He tried to control his panic at not seeing her as he carried Felipe over to a chair and sat him down.

"Get some cloth and warm water and some bandages." Salvador ordered his man servant, who nodded and left.

"Where's my wife?" Diego gritted his teeth as he glanced at Ignacio who was being helped by his father and Teo to another chair where they carefully removed his jacket.

"He's got her, Diego." Ignacio replied as they gently ripped his bloodied shirt sleeve.

Don Alejandro felt sick at the realisation of what had happened to his daughter-in-law. "de Toledo."

Ignacio nodded as two servants came back with bowls of warm water, cloths and bandages and handed them out. "I recognised his very distinctive ring."

Diego quickly dampened a cloth and gently wiped the blood away off his son's face. "Madre de dios." he muttered as he clearly saw a bullet graze on the side on his head, just above his temple but thankfully it wasn't deep. "It will be okay Felipe." He re-assured his son, who nodded weakly. "What happened Ignacio?" he asked as he carefully tended to the wound; while trying to ignore the fear that was growing in his stomach.

Ignacio winced as Don Alejandro tended to his wound. "de Toledo jumped us." he winced again. "Victoria had just emerged from the dressmaker and we were walking towards the laneway when he came out of nowhere. He shot and killed one of my men, then shot at Felipe before I even knew what was happening." he stopped as a strong surge of pain shot up his arm.

"You may need stitches Ignacio." Don Alejandro said worriedly as he gazed at the gash on his forearm.

Ignacio shook his head. "Later, later, just bandage it for now." he said through gritted teeth.

Diego finished bandaging his son's head and turned his cold gaze to the man he had trusted with the safety of his family and tried hard not to blame him as Ignacio continued with his story.

"He grabbed Victoria but she struggled and managed to get out of his grip. We then fought with swords but he was too good and I thought he was going to kill me too but he let me live." he paused as he turned his guilt ridden eyes to Diego; he had failed to protect his charge. "He wanted me to give you a message."

Diego clenched his jaw in anger. "What message?"

Ignacio took a breath. "He said that...that if you want to see your wife alive again, you will give up the title."

Don Alejandro exploded in a burst of anger. "That's outrageous, what kind of man is he, to hide behind a woman."

"He is a man I will kill if he harms Victoria." Diego's voice was cold and dangerous.


Victoria paced furiously around the small room that was her prison; she was too agitated to sit on the small cot which was the only piece of furniture in the room other than a metal bucket and a lantern that sat burning on the floor in the corner. It was her fault that the guard had been killed; her fault that Felipe and Ignacio had been wounded; her fault that she was in this place, wherever it was for there was no window to see out and the door was the only way in or out.

She had needed a final fitting of her formal ball gown for the ceremony and it was Felipe, along with Ignacio and a lancer, who had escorted her to the premises of the highly respected seamstress in the more exclusive area of the city; usually it was Aunt Maribel who would have accompanied her but the older lady needed to visit her daughter who was feeling ill with first pregnancy, so Victoria had asked Felipe to go instead.

Everything had gone fine until she left the seamstress and decided to go down a side street to a book shop she had noticed on her earlier visits, she wanted to buy a gift for her husband; perhaps a science book that he had never read before or some other subject he might be interested in but that decision had cost a man's life. She cursed herself as recalled the gunshot coming from behind her and as she turned around to see where it came from, she saw a man with a cold murderous look on his face and as he raised another pistol, the sun gleamed off the large ring on the man's finger and she realised that this was the man that wanted them dead.

It wasn't until he had shot at Felipe and grabbed her from behind and placed his hand over her mouth, did she snap out of her shock and stamped down on his foot and elbowed him in the stomach as hard as she could. She scrambled away as he let her go and it was then that Ignacio drew his sword and fought him but de Toledo was too good and quickly disarmed Ignacio and before she could reach Felipe, he had grabbed her again and this time he did not let go no matter how much she struggled.

She was half carried, half dragged to an enclosed carriage that was waiting in the laneway and she was thrown inside, with de Toledo climbing in after her, calling out to the driver to get going before he roughly gagged her with a silk handkerchief before she could scream; it all had happened so fast that no-one came to their help. The carriage ride was fast and rough and she lost all sense of direction from the moment she was tossed inside; not that it mattered for she had no idea of where she was in the large city but finally they came to a halt after what she thought was ten minutes, perhaps longer. Again she was roughly manhandled; this time with a blindfold over her eyes before she was pulled from the carriage and was half carried into a building, then down a flight of stairs, along a hallway and then tossed unceremoniously into the room she was in now.

de Toledo pulled off the blindfold and removed the gag and spoke the first words to her. "Pray that your husband cares more for you than the title."

She placed her hands on her hips. "He will find you and then you'll be sorry Señor." she said heatedly, furious at her treatment.

He grinned wickedly. "I'm counting on it, Señora." he replied before he closed the door and locked it from the outside.

His words made her shiver for it was obvious that she was to be the bait, once again. "Madre de dios, is this how it's going to be for the rest of my life, being used to trap Diego?" she muttered to herself. "Not if I can help it." She added as she looked around for any means of escape or weapon but after a thorough search of the small room, she found neither so she resigned herself to pacing to relieve her anxiety.


Diego kept a tight control on his anger and his fears as he and Ignacio stood waiting in the foray of a large imposing building to meet an acquaintance of de Soto's. It had been just over two hours since his wife's kidnapping and while Felipe and Ignacio had their wounds had been attended to by a doctor, Teo had reported the crime to the Royal Constabulary who began an immediate search for her, starting from the place where she had been abducted.

Felipe had been sent to bed with his head bandaged with Don Alejandro staying by his side but Ignacio refused to let his wound stop him from his duty and he had sent an urgent note to Armas; if anyone knew where de Toledo might be holding Victoria, it was Armas. He also knew that he would owe Armas another large favour for whatever information he could gather but this time it was different, for he felt responsible for what had happened even though his friend had not blamed him for it.

"Ah de Soto, sorry to keep you waiting." Armas said as he came around the corner and saw the two men waiting for him. "You must be de la Vega?"

Diego narrowed his eyes at the sight of the dishevelled man in front of him; he looked like he needed a hair cut and his clothes needed a clean and press but Ignacio told him to ignore his appearances. "I am. Do you know where de Toledo took my wife?"

"You must understand Don Diego that I haven't had much time..."

Diego finally lost his control. "NO, you understand Señor." he growled as he grabbed the man's coat and pushed him hard against the wall. "If any harm comes to my wife because of any delay, I will come after you."

Armas wasn't impressed by the dramatics and he simply turned his bored gaze to Ignacio.

Ignacio sighed and he moved forward and placed his good hand on Diego's shoulder. "Diego, he is the only one who can help." he said quietly. "I want to get him as much as you do; he killed one of my men."

Diego knew he had let his fears overcome his better judgement and he had given in to the irrational need to strike out at someone, even if that someone wasn't involved. He let go of Armas and slowly moved back. "Forgive me."

"Nothing to forgive, I would do the same if it had been my wife. Now as I was saying, I haven't had much time to ask around but word has already spread and with this terrible action de Toledo has lost any friends that he had left and no-one is interested in helping him. So he would have to be hiding in a place that only he knows about."

Ignacio nodded thoughtfully. "Does he still own any property in the city?"

"As a matter of fact, he does. When he was exiled, he didn't sell everything he had. He still owns several buildings in the downtown area as well as by the river." Armas replied as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "This is a list of the four places that he could be at. It's all that I have at the moment but at least you can start your search here." he added as he handed it over to Diego.

Diego took the paper and looked down that the addresses and frowned. "I am not familiar with these places." he said as he handed it over to Ignacio, who read it.

"I believe I know where they are." He said as he looked up at Armas. "You will send word to the home of Señor de la Crúz if you hear anything."

Armas nodded. "Of course. I hope you find your wife, Don Diego." he said sincerely; no matter what his activities included, families were off limits to him.

Diego nodded and with Ignacio, he left the building and together they began their search.