Author's Notes: And now for the conclusion of "Conundrum".

The Puzzle

(Conundrum)

Part 2

Zorro worked his way onto the roof, any sound he made drowned out by Toronado's angry kicking and fighting. Every sound made him more determined to free Toronado. It was simple enough to make his way through the unguarded skylight to the rafters above. Yet again, Zorro was astonished by how they'd forgotten this easy entrance. Risendo and De Soto stood below him oblivious to his presence.

"Is everything ready?" Risendo asked.

"The minute Zorro tries to breach the cuartel gate, he's a dead man," De Soto responded.

No better time than the present, Zorro thought as he dropped down beside De Soto.

"Why use the gate?" he asked before punching De Soto and knocking him down to the floor.

Risendo started reaching for a drawer, but Zorro quickly had his sword pointed at the man's throat.

"Close the drawer, please. Slowly," Zorro said, holding his sword steady. He was not pressing the blade hard enough to draw blood but enough to convince Risendo that he would if so inclined.

Risendo did as he was told, though he said, "You're wasting your time. The minute you enter the yard, my men have orders to shoot that horse."

"If Toronado dies," Zorro said steadily, "you will join him." He jerked the tip of his saber towards the door. "Now, move."

Risendo turned slowly and walked toward the door. As they began to go through, Zorro grabbed his shoulder and put his blade to the man's throat as they moved outside. The men outside were all focused on the struggling horse.

Speaking loudly to get their attention, Zorro said, "First man to shoot will be responsible for the Emissary's death."

The men turned and aimed their weapons at him though seeing the Emissary they held off firing.

"You, the big corporal," Zorro said. "Untie the horse."

His concentration ahead of him watching as Toronado was released, he failed to notice what was happening behind him until the forgotten De Soto grabbed him around the neck, forcing him to let go of Risendo. De Soto tried to pull him back but to his surprise, Zorro didn't resist. Instead he stumbled back several steps, throwing De Soto off balance and causing him to loosen his grip just a bit. Still, it was all Zorro needed to elbow him in the rib cage. De Soto let go, and Zorro spun around to deliver a kick that connected with De Soto's chest, sending him flying over his desk.

During the one-sided struggle, Risendo took his chance and drew his sword while yelling at his men to look out for Toronado. One eye on Risendo and the other on his men, Zorro parried Risendo's thrust and moved around, punching a soldier who was aiming to fire at Toronado. He fell backward into two other soldiers. Risendo struck at him again, and Zorro continued fighting him before facing off against more of Risendo's men. It was a general melee, but at least with the soldiers attention on him, it was no longer on Toronado who was doing his part to keep things chaotic. He knocked down some more men before turning and tossing his saber onto the roof and climbing up after it.

All he needed to do now was get the cuartel gate opened so that Toronado could escape. Unfortunately, Risendo decided to follow him onto the roof. But he was just one man. Zorro faced him as he attacked. As they fought, Zorro just had time to realize that the gate to the cuartel had been opened.

He should have paid more attention to what the soldiers were doing, as he suddenly was hit by a shot in the arm that knocked him down. He rolled downwards to a stop near the roof's edge. Risendo jumped towards him, lifting his arm in preparation to a stab. Zorro kicked out, knocking Risendo backward and off the roof.

Spotting Toronado standing close to where he was and unable to wait to see what happened with Risendo, Zorro carefully climbed down from the roof onto Toronado's back, riding out through the cuartel gates, leaving the sounds of shots behind him.

Toronado ran hard until they were well out of sight of the pueblo, and Zorro held his seat firmly despite the pain in his arm. He took a moment to slow Toronado down and pulled a spare mask from his pocket and used it to wrap his wound as well as he could one-handed before urging Toronado back towards the cave.

~Z~Z~Z~

Don Alejandro had found Miguel wanting to speak with him as soon as they returned to the hacienda, so Victoria had gone on into the house. And once she was sure that Maria wasn't about and her husband wasn't visible, Victoria slipped down to the cave, unsurprised to see Zorro's clothes were gone from the rack. He certainly would not be waiting much longer to free Toronado, and she decided to wait here as Felipe was unlikely to leave the pueblo until after whatever plan Diego had put into place was carried out. She wanted to see for herself that all was well, as well as let him know about Risendo's false letter, though perhaps she would let Don Alejandro tell him the full story, as he found it amusing, while she found it infuriating. What was that man after? Why would he want Don Alejandro to think Diego wanted his money and out of his marriage? What was the purpose of it all?

Her thoughts were broken by sound of the cave door opening. She stood up to see Diego leaning heavily over Toronado's saddle. He dismounted clumsily, and it was then that she noticed the black silk wrapped around his right arm.

"Diego, what happened?" she exclaimed as she approached him.

Pulling his mask off, he said, "Just an unlucky shot, a graze really."

"I know what you consider a graze so I'll believe that when I see it," Victoria said, whirling around to pull out Diego's medical box and put it on the table, then turning back to see Diego trying to unbutton his shirt one handed.

"Here let me," she said, finishing the job as she practically pulled him over to a stool. The shirt hung open as she turned her attention to the wrapped arm. "Now, let's see how this looks."

"Victoria, it's nothing to worry about," Diego said, covering the bandage with his hand, though she could see him trying not to wince. "I can take care of it."

"I'm sure you could, but why struggle with it when I'm here to take care of you," Victoria said, checking to see that she had a cloth ready to cover the wound once the makeshift bandage was removed, as well as scissors for cutting the sleeve if necessary. "And the more you argue the longer this will take. You know that I'm not squeamish."

"Yes, I know," Diego said, moving his hand away, as Victoria worked the silk loose.

It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Nasty looking but it didn't seem to need stitches.

"If you insist," Diego said. "I need you to clean it, and then we'll wrap it."

"What about the pain?" Victoria asked.

"I'll be fine. I have some willow bark tea. I'll drink it afterwards."

"Would that really help?"

"For the moment, anything stronger would either put me to sleep or compromise my wits, and we need to keep those intact until after all this mess with Risendo is resolved."

"If you insist," Victoria muttered, before cleaning and bandaging the wound as carefully as possible, following Diego's instructions, and deliberately not looking at his face during the process. He was already in enough pain without having to hide it more simply because she was the one helping him.

She was just finishing tying off the bandage, when they heard a clattering on the stairs, as Felipe rushed in.

"What's happened?" Diego asked, as the boy stood catching his breath.

Almost frantically, Felipe made the signs for Risendo, fall, and dead.

"Dead?" Victoria asked.

"Are you sure, Felipe?" Diego spoke at almost the same time.

Felipe signed, "De Soto is. Body is in the jail. De Soto's wanting to celebrate. Party in the tavern. Talked to Señor Calvillo."

Victoria looked to Diego. "Does this mean it's over?"

"I... suppose so," Diego said. "Without the emissary to direct them, the royal guardsmen are more likely to want to fulfill their primary mission and get the money to the king. Only Lieutenant Hidalgo seemed to be involved in whatever other schemes that Risendo had." He crossed over to the clothes rack and took down his shirt. "In light of this, I think we'd all better go to the pueblo."

"But your arm," Victoria protested.

"Exactly," Diego replied, as he changed. "It's best if I'm seen apparently uninjured. And as it's your tavern, best we see that things don't get too rowdy." He looked at Felipe. "Does Father know yet?"

Felipe shook his head, pointing to Diego.

"All right," Diego said, not successfully hiding a wince. "Let's go tell him."

Victoria stopped him by touching his uninjured arm. "No, first, you drink the willow bark tea. Then we go speak to your father." At his look of protest, she added, "It will be easier for you to pretend to be well if you take something for the pain."

It took a few minutes to make and drink the mixture, and then they headed upstairs, only to see Don Alejandro entering the house.

"Diego, Victoria, I just heard the strangest news. The emissary is dead," Don Alejandro said.

"Yes, Felipe told us," Diego said pointing towards the young man. "It seems incredible that a simple fall from the cuartel roof could have killed him."

"Indeed," Don Alejandro said. "It seems so unbelievable. Not that I can say that I'm sorry about it. The man was vile. Has Victoria told you about the fake letter he tried to convince me was yours?"

Diego glanced at Victoria before saying, "No, it hadn't come up. What was it?"

"Some fool letter to your friend Ernesto, talking about how you wanted to prove me incompetent and take over the estate as well as not being happy about being married to a woman who'd been involved with Zorro. If he had tried, I don't think he could have come up with a more unbelievable forgery."

"That is ridiculous," Diego said with a forced smile. After all, wanting to throttle a dead man was an exercise in futility.

"I wish I knew why the emissary did such a thing," Victoria said. "I suppose we will never find out now."

"No," Diego said, pondering all the questions that would now go unanswered. "And now I believe we should go to the pueblo and see what is going on now."

"Indeed we should," Don Alejandro said. "I want to be sure of what happened and what the man's men are doing."

~Z~Z~Z~

Diego spent the carriage ride to the pueblo trying to hide how much his arm hurt and hoping that he could manage to make it through whatever time they spent there without any blood seeping through the bandages. In any event, he certainly would not be removing his coat until they were home again. He was still stunned that Risendo had died from a short fall from the roof. Never had he wanted to take a life in his cause, yet this was the fourth time he had been the cause, directly or indirectly, of a death, three from falls. Was he cursed? It all seemed so incredible, yet here he was.

As they entered the pueblo, Diego was rather taken aback by the sight of a crowd of merrymakers outside the brightly lit tavern. It seemed that the news of the emissary's death as well as De Soto's party had gotten around quickly. As he helped Victoria down from the carriage with his uninjured arm, Diego glanced at the cuartel. He could see two of the emissary's men standing guard. He wondered where the rest were. Not at the party he would wager.

He followed behind Victoria as they entered the tavern following a man playing the guitar. Victoria headed directly towards Señor Calvillo who was standing behind the bar near De Soto and Mendoza.

When Mendoza spotted Diego, he greeted him enthusiastically.

"Ah, welcome. What a fight, Don Diego!" He grabbed Diego's arm, and Diego had to hide the sudden searing pain. "Zorro was magnificent," he continued. "You should have been there."

He released Diego and mimed a sword fight.

Stepping back slightly, Diego said, "So I've heard, Sergeant."

Don Alejandro approached the bar. "Quite a party, eh?" he said to Señor Calvillo.

"Sí, and the alcalde is paying every centavo," he said with a glance at De Soto, who looked up.

"Yes, indeed, I am," De Soto said, wiping his brow with his handkerchief. "I think we all need to let off a little steam." He looked around at the crowd of dancers. "You all know how personally close I came to death."

Sergeant Mendoza spoke up. "Me, too. If it wouldn't have been for Zorro..."

"Sergeant," De Soto interrupted impatiently, "if it weren't for Zorro, we wouldn't have come so close to hanging in the first place."

"Oh, come on, Alcalde," Victoria said. "It's a celebration, your celebration. Can't you bury the hatchet with Zorro just for one night?"

De Soto shoved his handkerchief into his sleeve. "You're quite right, Señora. This is a joyous occasion. May I have the honor of this dance?"

Victoria looked taken aback for a moment, but Diego was quick to intervene. "Pardon me, Alcalde, but my wife promised this dance to me." He smiled as he took Victoria's hand to lead her to dance.

"The Alcalde will bury the hatchet all right," Diego said.

"Yes, right into Zorro's head," Victoria said. "If he could find it."

"Which I doubt," Diego murmured as they turned in the dance. He could see Felipe dancing with Teresa, and his father with Señora Gonzalez. Even De Soto managed to find a partner. Diego couldn't remember the last time there had been such gaiety in the tavern. His surroundings proved to be a stark contrast to how he felt at the moment but he smiled as best he could and danced on.

The family did not stay too long. Victoria made their excuses once they'd spoken with enough people, and she was sure that Señor Calvillo had everything well in hand. Diego had started feigning a headache shortly after their dance, figuring it was the best ailment to use as a diversion from any other injuries.

Don Diego approached his father while Victoria was talking with Señor Calvillo.

"Father, Victoria and I will be leaving shortly," he said, raising a hand to his head. "Will you be coming with us or should we send the carriage back for you?"

He was surprised when Don Ricardo, one of Don Alejandro's old friends, piped up. "Nonsense, your hacienda's on the way to my own. I can give your father a ride back, and young Felipe, too," he said with a glance over to where Felipe was dancing again with Teresa. "No need for them to leave early, or put out your driver for a double trip."

Don Alejandro smiled. "Thank you, amigo. We've still got more stories to go, haven't we? And I'm sure Felipe's in no hurry to leave his company, eh, Diego?"

"Of course," Diego said. "As long as everything is settled. I wouldn't want to pull either of you away before you're ready."

He fought to keep the pain off his face when his father clapped him on the back. Perhaps they should have mentioned his injury before they left the hacienda. But, no, better that his father not know at the moment. Crossing over to Felipe, Diego told him that he and Victoria were leaving as well as Don Ricardo's offer to give him and Don Alejandro a ride home later. Felipe nodded and signed that he would leave with Don Alejandro.

At that moment, Victoria came up beside them. "I've said goodbye to your father," she said to Diego. "And I see you're staying as well, Felipe."

A large smile crept across his face, and he cast a glance back at Teresa.

Victoria knew full well that he would not be parted from the young lady so soon or so easily. "By all means, enjoy yourself."

Diego offered Victoria his arm as they made their way to the door. It was dark in the plaza, though the lights from the tavern shone out. As he helped Victoria into the carriage, Diego once again looked across at the cuartel. It was dark, though he could still see a couple of the men standing in front of the doors. And as he settled into his seat, he saw another carriage pulling up in front of the building. Possibly a late comer to the party, but why stop there instead of in front of the tavern. He winced as the pain in his arm sharpened, when the carriage jerked forward; he really needed to get home for another dose soon.

Victoria was looking at him with concern in her eyes. "Are you all right, Diego?"

Diego leaned back against the seat. "Well enough for the moment," he said. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to getting home to a good night's sleep."

"Me too," Victoria said, as she tried to hide a small yawn. "I still can't believe this is over."

"Neither can I," Diego said. He fixed his eyes on the mysterious carriage. The uncanny timing of its arrival only served to deepen his doubt about what was actually going on. No, he thought, neither can I.

~Z~Z~Z~

Letter from Ynez Risendo to Severo Delgado (unmailed)

Santa Barbara, California

My not so dear uncle,

Although I don't know if you will even still be alive to receive this, I cannot help but write to you from California on the eve of my final triumph against Don Alejandro de la Vega. You once told me to forget him and his sins against my family and to thank God for the blessing of young Gilberto. Ha. When has God ever blessed me with anything but death and despair? Any "blessings" I have received, I have taken for myself and are more the gifts of the devil if any such exists. I cannot believe that you were fool enough to believe the story I told you of how Gilberto came to be mine. You must have suspected the truth and turned a blind eye since there were no obvious repercussions to be seen, and we are of the same blood, though yours has always been watered down and weak.

But now at last my years of work will pay off, and my sister's death will be avenged through Don Alejandro's own blood. A fitting end for him. One decades in the making. I am the slow poison that will kill him at last, but not before he knows exactly who has brought this hell to him and why.

Gilberto has done his work, and now it is time for my own. And you can die knowing I have done all I have said I would.

Ynez Risendo

The End

Next Up: "The Discovery" and the conclusion of this epic, years in the making. I only hope you all will find it worth the journey.

End Notes:

When Diego's thinking about the fact that this is the third time he's been responsible for a death from a fall (unlike the twice from the series), it's because in addition to Ramone's death at Devil's Fortress, in this AU Lamarca/Baquero from "The Reward" died by going over the over the tavern balcony after fighting with Diego instead of with the three generic guys as in the episode. And of course, the fourth death was Saragosa who fell on his own knife, which I suppose makes it technically a fall as well. Actually, this Zorro has a fairly low body count and greater feelings of guilt over that body count than other Zorros I have seen.

And now we've concluded the penultimate story of this series. Even though this is almost over, all reviews, favorites, and follows are greatly appreciated.