It was already eight in the evening when Diego and Mendoza returned to the fiesta and, while they had been gone, Victoria had had to dance with every male wedding guest, even gaining a jealous look from Marguerita, as she danced with Rafael.

"Finally!" She uttered when Diego came to ask her for a dance, gracefully offering him her hand. "So? What did he think?"

"I believe he'd like to move there." Diego answered with a wide grin. "He made me promise I'd take him back one of these days."

"I'm not surprised…But, you know…I do hope nobody moves there, since I have my own fantasies about that cave of yours!" She told him.

The music mixed with the chatter of the other dancers and the noise was loud enough to dampen the sound of their own voices; their words could hardly travel beyond the confinement of their dancing pose, even if they had been more than mere whispers.

"Really? Pray, tell, and I will do my best to make them become reality!" he promised with a wicked grin.

"Well…I was fantasizing about you…putting on that mask…and"

"And?"

"And…letting me take it off." Victoria smiled. "I always wanted to do that. Unmask the Legendary Zorro!"

"What would you do afterward?" he then asked teasingly. "I mean…once you'd unmask me?"

"Savor my victory..."

"How appropriate, since your name is Victoria… And how would you savor it?"

"I'm sure I'll think of something…appropriate for the occasion…"

"Well...I hope you do…I, myself have some fantasies I'd like to make real, as well…"

"Perhaps our fantasies coincide…" She suggested.

"I certainly hope they do!" Diego replied with a suggestive smile which made her blush.

He would have wanted to kiss her, but the middle of a crowd was not the best spot for that, so, instead, he pulled her closer into his arms and continued to spin her around as they glanced into each other's eyes, any further words dead on their lips.

ZZZ

"Where were you, Lieutenant?" Sepulveda asked him. "The Alcalde had spent an hour trying to find you!"

"I went to see what a laboratory looks like!" Mendoza answered.

"A laboratory?" His man questioned. "You mean…there really is one? And Don Diego let you see it?"

"He did, Corporal! Which just goes to show how much he trusts me!" Mendoza answered proudly. "I can now describe Zorro's laboratory to the Alcalde in full detail." He continued, arranging his uniform, then changed to a conspiratorial tone. "I also need to describe it to you and the other men."

"Si, Lieutenant…but…as I was saying…the Alcalde had been looking for you. He wants you to organize a patrol to go search for the afternoon patrol. The men have not yet returned and they were supposed to be back two hours ago."

"You mean Arenas, Gomez, and Aguirre are missing?"

"Si, Lieutenant. The Alcalde wants you to take three men and go search for them. He said that, with the Governor and the Emissary in the pueblo, he cannot spare any more lancers."

"Lieutenant!" They heard De Soto call for his officer. "I was looking for you!"

"I was…"

"I don't care, Mendoza. Just get the Corporal, Martinez and Valdez and go search for the afternoon patrol. They are not here yet and it's already getting late." The Alcalde ordered.

"Si, Alcalde!" The lancer confirmed, looking to find Diego among the people dancing in the plaza.

"Now, Lieutenant!" His superior interrupted, thinking his man was looking to find some widow he might have been trying to woo.

The two lancers glanced at each other worrisomely and headed for the cuartel, where Mendoza found Martinez and Valdez waiting, with all the four horses already saddled. The Alcalde's presence made it impossible for the lancers to warn Diego, so they left praying that nothing wrong was going to happen, knowing there was no back-up this time.

ZZZ

"Alcalde!" The Governor asked De Soto as he entered the tavern, nearing their table. "Please join us!"

The higher-ranking official was, at that moment, engaged in a conversation with Don Alejandro and the Emissary, the first two recounting for the latter the events of the previous day.

"I was just telling the Emissary how well your men have managed to deal with the attempted robbery on the tavern, yesterday, and he was telling me that they had used a similar method to capture the Giménez Gang. Did you know the Emissary was one of the hostages when that attack had happened?" The Governor inquired.

"I do remember reading about it in the report, Your Excellency!" De Soto admitted, remembering that the written testimony of one Senor de Molinas had been taken and used against the bandits during their trial.

"For certain, where is your Lieutenant?" The Governor wondered, looking towards the plaza. "I'd like to ask him how he had come up with that strategy."

"I'm afraid he is not here, Governor. I just send him and three more lancers to find the afternoon patrol, since the men had not yet returned."

"What men haven't returned?" Diego asked as he was approaching the group with Victoria.

"The three lancers who went on patrol earlier. Arenas, Gomez, and Aguirre." De Soto answered, wondering why Diego was at all interested, since it no longer concerned him in any way. "I am, however, certain that Mendoza and his men will find them, soon enough."

"I'm sure he will, Ignacio." Diego confirmed, suddenly overcome by a feeling of uneasiness. "Meanwhile, if you'll all excuse me and my beautiful fiancée, I believe we should retire for the night. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"I don't think we should retire!" Victoria stated, visibly nervous. "In fact, I wouldn't mind dancing a little more."

"You did say your feet hurt…" Diego insisted, but soon realized she was not intended on letting him leave "but if they don't, I'd be happy to continue dancing with you."

She approved and, after they excused themselves, the two again mingled among the dancing pairs.

"I need to go, my love!" he stated, looking at Victoria.

"No, you don't! They are soldiers and can take care of themselves! You have no obligation to come to their rescue every time something goes wrong! And you heard De Soto! The two soldiers who were in Monterey with him are among those missing. You are lucky the ones who remained decided to keep your secret, but, if they find out, they'll go directly to the Alcalde!"

"I'll be careful! I always am. They didn't discover me before they left, what's to say they will if I help them this one time."

"I love you, Diego! If anything happens to you…"

"It won't! I'll be fine. And it might be they just got lost or have some minor injury. They might not even need any help."

"You will come to me later to let me know you are alright? I won't be able to close an eye if you won't come!"

"I will! Of course, I will!" Diego reached to kiss her on her forehead.

"Tomorrow." He whispered mostly for himself, doing his best to overcome the need to kiss her on the lips ignoring the crowd around them.

When the dance ended, just a minute later, he escorted his fiancée to the tavern, where she started limping and noisily complained about him stepping on her foot, determining the Alcalde to grin wickedly at Diego's clumsiness, and giving the caballero the opportunity to retire for the evening, as she did the same.

Half an hour later, Zorro mounted on Tornado, was galloping south, in search of Mendoza and his men.

ZZZ

The Lieutenant and his lancers followed the route the patrols normally stuck to. It was still daylight when they left and they managed to find some of the tracks left by the three men. Following them, they soon realized they had deviated from their normal path.

About half an hour later, as they were closing in on a ravine, they saw their horses, all three tied up to a tree and they started hearing voices. Dismounting, at Mendoza's orders, the patrol silently headed for the edge and looked down.

The three lancers were all kneeling, their hands tied at their backs, as three thugs held them at gunpoint.

"What should we do with them?" One of the bandits asked the one in the middle.

"Kill them, of course!" The man answered. "The fewer of them, the easier our work will be!"

"We are Royal Lancers!" Arenas stated proudly. "If you kill us you will be condemning yourselves to death!"

The three men laughed hard, as if they had just heard a very good joke. "We already have prices on our heads; and who will know it was us, anyway?"

"We will know!" Mendoza stated, sword drawn, as his men were aiming their muskets at the bandits. "I suggest you put down your weapons!" He ordered.

"On the contrary" he heard a voice behind him "it is you who should put down your weapons!" The man aiming a gun at his back stated, as another one was pointing a gun at Sepulveda.

Taking advantage of their distraction, the other three bandits moved towards the kneeling lancers and, picking them up and using them as shields, they aimed their guns at their heads.

"They want to kill us all anyway!" Gomez stated, his eyes begging for his comrades to fight back so that, at least, they might save themselves.

Mendoza, though, could not consider that option, so he tried to negotiate.

"Let them go and you can all go free!" He said with a self-confidence he wasn't feeling.

"Lower your weapons and we will consider letting all of you live!" The gang leader commanded.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds, then Mendoza gave the order for his men to lower their muskets.

The thugs smiled wickedly at one another as one of them took their weapons and another indicated for the four new arrivals to join the ones already kneeling, while they tied their hands.

"Are we really letting them go?" One of the bandits asked as they all took position before the lancers, pistols aimed at them.

"Of course not!" He replied, taking aim at Mendoza.

"But you said…" The Lieutenant tried to argue.

"I said I might consider letting you live. I considered it and I decided not to." The bandit leader stated with a chuckle as he fired his gun.

Mendoza closed his eyes, certain he was about to die but the bullet only found a target in the ground before him. As he raised his head to look at the thug, one eye open as the other he was still squeezing, he saw that the man was holding his hand in pain, hatefully looking at a rock lying on the ground, next to him.

"Who threw that?" He asked as his men started looking to their right.

Seconds later, a small black cannonball fell next to them and a deep smoke came out of it. They turned their attention to their left, from where they heard some sudden movement, only to see Tornado charging directly at them. As the first two men in the stallion's path were being knocked to the ground by his hoof, the ones furthest away from the steed felt the sting of a whip as their pistols flew from their hands.

"It's Zorro's ghost!" One of them yelled, and all they could think about, at that moment, was flee.

Stumbling on the soldiers and on the ground, the five thugs picked themselves up and ran across the shallow river and towards their horses, mounted them, and disappeared into the night.

Mendoza breathed relieved as Zorro came to them and used his sword to slash their bounds.

"Gracias a Dios! But how did you know to come?" Mendoza asked him.

"I have my sources, Mendoza. You should know that by now!" he answered. "Is everyone alright?" He asked.

"Arenas and I are wounded." Gomez stated. "We tried to fight them but they caught us by surprise!"

"How are you alive?" Arenas asked as Aguirre was just staring at him dumbstruck.

"Let's say I'm a ghost only allowed to walk among the living during the Days of the Pueblo." Zorro told him with a smile as he was lighting a torch.

"But…But you're not a ghost!" The lancer protested. "There are no such things as ghosts."

"No…there most probably aren't." Zorro confirmed. "But I'd appreciate it if you'd accept that explanation, anyway! May I?" He asked, reaching to inspect the lancer's wound.

Arenas looked at him and at his companions, then approved, taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeve to reveal a deep gash on his upper arm.

"Luckily it didn't touch your bone." Zorro stated, studying the wound. "It's not that bad. Doctor Hernandez will need to stitch it as soon as possible, though, and you will have to keep it clean in order for it not to get infected, but it will heal in a few weeks. For now, all I can do is clean it and patch it up."

As he said that, he whistled for Tornado, who had wandered off, and, from his saddlebags, took a bottle of alcohol and some bandages.

"It will hurt quite badly, I'm afraid." He stated, taking off his gloves.

The lancer nodded and prepared himself for the stinging pain to follow. Zorro did his best to be gentle and quick, a few minutes later finishing wrapping the bandage around the man's arm.

"Your turn!" he said, directing towards Gomez.

The man had been thrown against a boulder during the fight and he was being his brav self, avoiding to complain about the bad chest pain he was feeling. Zorro helped him remove his jacket, noticing that the lancer was suffering with every movement, then pulled up his cotton shirt to inspect his injury.

"You didn't say it was this bad!" He exclaimed. "You seem to have a few broken ribs. There's no way you can return on the garrison mounted on a horse! Sepulveda!" He ordered. "Go get the garrison's wagon and make sure to lay down some straw and blankets. He needs to be comfortable and you will need to drive him back with care. And bring Doctor Hernandez with you!"

The Corporal just nodded and mounted his horse, heading at full gallop towards the pueblo.

"You should also travel by wagon, Arenas!" The masked outlaw counseled as he was preparing some bandages for Gomez.

"You…You should go…before the Alcalde comes!" Mendoza told him as he finished bandaging the injured man.

"I'd rather stay a while longer." He answered, part of him fearing that the bandits might return with reinforcements. Turning towards Martinez and Valdez, he instructed them to climb up the ravine and stand watch. "Do you know who those men were and why they wanted to kill you?" He asked after the two lancers took their positions.

"No." Aguirre was finally able to say. "We had been following them for a few hours, planning to find out where they camp, so we might return with more, but they ambushed us. After that, all they said was that their job would be easier if there were less of us lancers."

Zorro looked pensively "And right they were, Aguirre. But what determined you to follow them?"

"We saw them leaving the Garcia farmhouse and we knew that Pablo and his wife were at the fiesta, just like everyone else, so there was no legitimate reason for them to be there." Gomez stated.

"Zorro! The Alcalde is coming!" Martinez warned him, rapidly climbing down.

"I guess it's time for me to leave, then." He stated, mounting Tornado. "Adios!"

"Lieutenant?" Aguirre asked after he left. "Is that why everyone behaves like that with us? You all know who he is and don't want the Alcalde to find out?"

"Don't be absurd, Aguirre! Nobody knows who Zorro is! We just think it better for the Alcalde not to know he is alive, or we might return to chasing him." Mendoza stated, just as they all started hearing the wagon and the reinforcements arriving.

ZZZ

"Do you really think they don't know who he is?" Aguirre asked Arenas, a little later that night, after first making sure they were not being overheard.

"How can they not? Didn't you see they obey his every order?" Arenas answered, then a wide grin brightened his face. "How do you think the Alcalde would react if he knew he had left Zorro in his place while he was away?"

"He'd be furious if he'd find out!" Aguirre replied. "How did you know it's him?"

"He had treated my wounds before, when Doctor Hernandez was out of town. How did you?"

"I thought that, if Zorro was alive, the only reason he'd allow Don Diego to marry the Senorita was if he was him. And that horse he is riding…From the first moment I saw him, it crossed my mind that that's how Tornado would look like with a star painted on his forehead and some white hair in his mane and tail."

"So what do we do now?" Arenas asked.

"Considering he just saved our lives? Shut our mouths and pretend we don't know anything. Just like the others."