Chapter 7.
Zorro cursed softly for noticing it too late. Toronado tried his best to hide it, but his gait wasn't as smooth as usual.
Zorro slipped out of the saddle and examined the horse's hind leg. Probably Toronado had overstretched a muscle or something with the jump over the ravine.
As if the day wasn't bad already.
Zorro looked up and scanned the horizon. A plume of smoke rose in the distance. If those were the men who had kidnapped Victoria, they should feel safe on this side of the ravine. That meant they knew the area.
He would first take a look at the plume of smoke and then look further. "Come on, boy." Holding the reins, Zorro led Toronado with him.
As he got closer, a feeling of dread came over him. The campsite looked quiet. Too quiet for his liking. Too quiet and too…, it was indefinable, but Zorro felt down to his toes that something was wrong.
With a tap on his behind, Zorro sent his horse toward the large rocks to hide. Using the clumps of bushes that grew abundantly in the rocky landscape, he crept cautiously closer. He had a view of the camp from behind one of the larger rocks.
The camp was deserted.
No trace of Victoria. There were no horses. On the ground in a pool of blood lay a man who was dead.
Looking around, Zorro walked over to check on the dead man. A gunshot wound to the heart. The fire was still burning. It had happened not so long ago. Two tracks of horses, one of which had a rider in his back, headed south.
Now that Toronado was crippled, it was futile to try to go after the man.
Zorro weighed his options. He had to get a horse somehow if he was to have a chance of going after Victoria. The other option was to walk back to Los Angeles to find Victoria riding Esperanza as Diego. But even if he walked through the night, it would be more than twenty-four hours before he was back here. And that was if everything went well. It was more likely to take thirty hours or more. That was too many hours in which too many things could happen he didn't want to think about.
Would it be faster to follow the horses on foot? The bandit would have to spend the night somewhere. Zorro could use that time to catch up.
Zorro whistled for Toronado, and the horse emerged from the bushes.
"We'll need to find her old boy." Zorro started stripping Toronado of his gear. The less weight, the better. He couldn't leave his horse here. He had to take Toronado with him and hope that the leg would not be irreparably damaged.
As soon as Toronado was off his saddle, the horse walked away. Zorro looked around for a safe place to hide the gear. His eye fell on a piece of bright green cloth that he hadn't noticed before.
Behind thick vegetation lay an unconscious…, Victoria.
"Victoria." The relief he felt was indescribable, followed immediately by a greater concern. Victoria looked much too pale.
He knelt next to her and gave her a gentle shake. There was no response. As quickly as possible, he took off his gloves and threw them down next to him. Zorro grabbed her wrist and searched until he felt a faint heartbeat.
She was still alive. "Victoria." He said again, this time louder and more insistently.
Zorro sprang to his feet and reached for the bag filled with water that he always carried with him these days. After a few hours of blindness from drinking contaminated water, he learned his lesson and has always carried a bag of fresh water with him ever since.
Cautiously, he tried to give Victoria a sip of water. She blinked.
"Victoria, wake up, dear."
Someone called her name and wanted her to wake up. Victoria didn't want this. She wanted to stay a little longer in a nice place that she could not describe. Something or someone was tapping her cheek. It was an annoying feeling, and it wouldn't stop. Why didn't it stop? Victoria tried to lift her arm to end the discomfort.
"Victoria, open your eyes."
That voice seemed vaguely familiar to her and so insistent that she had to obey. "Zorro? Is it you?"
Slowly her mind cleared, and when Victoria knew who was calling her name, she opened her eyes.
"Zorro, I thought I heard it was you." She tried to get up, but firm hands tenderly pushed her back.
"Victoria?" Something was wrong. He didn't like the way her eyes looked.
"Zorro, I can't see anything."
Over his shoulder, Zorro looked at the stream that ran close to the encampment. He thought he had destroyed the source of the polluted water last year. This smaller stream probably ended in the larger stream he had destroyed. And this being the stream causing the pollution.
"What happened?"
Victoria tried to sit again. "Men kidnapped me. They gave me water to drink, and after a while, I started having terrible pain. Then everything became blurry. Zorro, there is something wrong with the water."
Tenderly, Zorro brushed a lock of hair from her face. "I know. The water is polluted. I drank it last year, and the symptoms you describe are similar to mine."
"You mean the blindness is temporary?" Victoria sounded relieved and concerned at the same time.
Zorro wanted to reassure her. "Yes, I only had a few sips. And after a few hours, I slowly started to get my sight back again."
"What if it's different for me? I was so thirsty." Zorro took her in his arms. Victoria had held on as long as she could, but now that she didn't need to be strong, she collapsed. She clung desperately to him. "I can't see anything at all! What about the tavern, what if I can never see again."
"Stt, hush, Victoria. Don't despair. It'll be all right. In a few hours, your sight will slowly return."
Zorro sounded more convinced than he felt. He only had a few sips. Victoria had more. And he had drunk from it further down the stream, where the water was probably more diluted. He did not want to tell Victoria. She had every reason to be scared, and he saw no reason to frighten her more.
"Do you really think so?"
"Yes, as I said, it happened to me too. It was at a small lake not far from here. I suspect that you drank the same water. I thought I destroyed the source of that creek, but apparently, this is one side fork or something. And the real source of the poison is even further upstream."
"That is good to hear. I was scared it might last." Victoria enjoyed the strong arms holding her and smelled a familiar musky scent until something else came to her mind. "Oh, Zorro, those men. They tried to get me to tell where your hiding place is. There are two of them, and they must still be around. They might come back."
Although she couldn't see anything, Victoria moved her head around as if scanning the surroundings.
Zorro swallowed. Every needless death hit him. "One man can never hurt you again. He is dead. The other is gone, and I doubt he will come back. He shot his mate and left you for dead."
For a moment, he allowed himself a moment of weakness. Pulled Victoria deeper into his arms, buried his nose and smelled her fragrant hair, enjoying her warmth.
Victoria frowned and said. "I remember hearing a shot. My vision was getting more and more blurry at that moment. Those men kept asking me questions. About your name, your hiding place." Victoria shivered, and Zorro pulled her a little tighter in his arms.
"It's over. I am with you, and no one will harm you. I'll see to it." They stayed like that until Zorro let go of her. Victoria resisted by not letting go. Carefully, Zorro released himself from her embrace. "I'll stay near you. But I have to secure Toronado. I don't want to risk him drinking from the water too. I'll be right back."
Toronado came right up, and Zorro grabbed a rope. "I'm sorry Toronado, but we can't risk you drinking the water. We roughly know what it does to humans. But I have no idea which one harm it can do to you."
Zorro found a protruding branch that seemed strong enough and tied his horse to it, giving him enough space to make it as comfortable as possible. After that, he made sure the dead man was out of sight. Then he returned to Victoria. "Victoria, those men did they drank from the water that you know?"
She shook her head. "No, I think they were drinking whiskey."
Zorro squatted next to her. "Things can't get much worse. Toronado is crippled. Those bandits destroyed the bridge. We're barely eight miles from Los Angeles. But now we have to take a detour to get back. I'm sorry, Victoria, but we can't ride Toronado. That means we have to walk back to Los Angeles."
Victoria turned her face to where the voice was coming from. "There's that narrowing in the ravine. Can't we try to cross there?"
"Yes, under normal circumstances, Toronado can make that jump. However, he has become crippled because of jumping it. And even if he didn't, I wouldn't dare make that jump with you and me on his back.
There will be little choice but to walk back, but not today." Zorro got up again and began to look at what the man had left behind in his haste to getaway. He picked up his saddlebag that was on the ground and took out a small gun.
"It's getting late, and here we are safe. Tonight, we will stay here and tomorrow hopefully is your sight recovered, and we can walk. But first."
Victoria felt arms lift her up and gently set her back on the ground a few steps away. "Here's a boulder for you to rest against. If you hear anything, it'll probably be Toronado. He's about twenty feet away from you. If you hear voices, fire this gun straight into the air. I'm within earshot, and if I hear a shot, I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Zorro is carrying a gun?" Victoria was genuinely surprised.
"Zorro is clever enough to carry any weapon that can come to use. I hide it in my saddlebag and only use it for an emergency." He explained to her. He relied much more on his sword and whip. The past had taught him to be prepared for the unthinkable.
"What are you going to do? Please, don't leave me here. I can go with you."
Zorro lifted a bucket that lay on its side next to the fire, "I'm going to find some good water. I'll be back as soon as possible. Here, take my hat. I don't want to risk you getting a sunstroke."
The hat was, of course, much too big for Victoria and fell half over her eyes. "And what about you?" she asked, worried.
"My mask will protect me from sunstroke.I'll be back before you know it."
Victoria waited nervously. At first, she was startled by every sound she heard. Toronado apparently had wandered around. After a while, she began to recognize the noise the horse made and from which direction it was coming.
She felt it took hours, but probably it was shorter when she heard a soft rustle followed immediately by the so familiar voice.
"It's alright, Victoria. It's me. I found water in a well not far from here. I think we can safely drink from this. Not only that, but I even have found some cactus leaves and figs to eat. It won't be a tasty meal, but we don't have to go hungry."
Victoria heard a dull thump as Zorro put the bucket filled with water on the ground.
"How are you feeling? Has there been any improvement?"
A brave, wry smile appeared on her face. "Still as blind as can be. I'm glad the cramps have stopped."
At Zorro and de Soto, the blindness had only lasted a few hours, and he was beginning to get a little worried. He'd only had a few sips of the water, the alcalde even less. And hearing her story, Victoria had drunk a fair amount, which was a logical explanation why the effect lasted longer on her.
"How long did it take for you to see something again?" Victoria wanted to know.
Zorro answered as honestly as possible. "Longer than I would have liked. Victoria, I want to ask you something, and it's indecent, I'm aware of it."
"Just ask. It's not like I can run away if I don't like it."
Relieved that she was starting to get some of her humour back, Zorro uttered. "I want to ask you to give me one of your underskirts."
Seeing her shocked look, he quickly explained: "Not for me. I want to make a cold compress for Toronado around his leg. I could use my cape that is made of silk and less sufficient. Your eh, underskirt is, I take, made of linen or cotton and retain moisture longer and better."
Victoria giggled uncomfortably, "I see. Yes, you may." Victoria felt uncomfortable. She couldn't lift her overskirt to take off an underskirt, as Zorro was so nearby. He was a gentleman, but still.
Zorro cleared his throat and felt just as uncomfortable as Victoria. "I'll go to Toronado for a moment. You can call me when you're ready."
Zorro did everything he could to make sure Victoria was as comfortable as possible.
In his search for water, he had also found medicinal herbs to incorporate into the poultice. He tore the skirt into strips, boiled the herbs on the fire in a metal cup the man had left.
And after it had cooled sufficiently, he wrapped the wet strips of linen and herbs around Toronado's leg. He gathered wood to keep the campfire burning to provide them with warmth and keep the wild animals away.
Over the fire, the cactus leaves were now roasting. He had stripped them of the thorns using the dagger. As an extra precaution, Zorro boiled the water he had brought. All this time, there was hardly anything else to do for Victoria but sit quietly while Zorro cared for her and ask him questions.
"Tell me about yourself?"
"What do you want to know?" Zorro responded, turning some leaves.
"Oh, I don't know. I have so many questions. You and I have been engaged for so long. And I feel I barely know you. Just tell me something private. Something about the man behind the mask."
He could have known that was the kind of thing she wanted to talk about. "Why don't you ask what you want to know? I'll try to answer them as honestly as possible."
It was harder than Victoria had thought. Zorro would not answer questions that could reveal his identity, so she had to work her way around it.
"Why have you named yourself el Zorro? Wouldn't lion or tiger have been a better choice?"
Zorro laughed in his so distinctive and charming way. "A fox is a cunning animal. He is not the strongest, bravest or fastest animal in the animal kingdom, yet he survives in the toughest conditions. He shows up where you don't expect him.
Furthermore, he does justice to the proverb that says he who isn't strong must be smart. When I decided to stand up against alcalde Ramon, he was the ruler of the pueblo. Ramon believed himself to be the king of the pueblo, or the lion to stay in metaphors.
What animal was better than a fox to overthrow the lion?"
Victoria asked more questions, and one thing led to another. Slowly the conversation turned to the pueblo and also to Paco and her idea to adopt him.
Zorro pretended to have only a slight idea of what Victoria was talking about when she mentioned the boy's name. "Paco, isn't that the boy who is crippled? I've seen him a few times. He helps you in the tavern, I believe."
Oh, if looks could kill, Zorro would have fallen to the ground right there and at that moment.
"Not any more. Don Diego had the most ingenious idea, and Paco can now walk just as well as any other."
"Victoria, you are a warm hearted woman, and I know you mean well. Paco is very lucky you are considering adopting him."
"But?" Victoria interrupted Zorro halfway in what he was saying.
"You are a woman."
"You men are all the same! The padre and don Alejandro said something similar. Si, I'm a woman! So what?"
He loved everything about Victoria. The way her eyes glowed when she smiled, her graceful movements. Perhaps most of all, he loved her character. Many feared it, and Victoria was famed for miles around for her fiery character. But as she sat here in front of him, with her fists in her side. Her brow furrowed, her eyes spit fire and her mouth half-open ready to answer him no matter what he might say.
"Paco is how old? Twelve? For some things, a boy needs a man. How would you like it if I adopted a girl."
Immediately, Victoria was suspicious and asked him. "Do you have a child?"
He had to be careful in what he was saying. Felipe was like a son. "Except for you, I'm unfettered. Victoria, if you're honest, wouldn't you, as a woman, also prefer a girl not to be adopted by an unmarried man?"
Victoria opened her mouth indignantly. "That's something completely different."
"Is it? Take Felipe as an example. Don't you think the reactions in the pueblo would have been different if Felipe had been a girl?"
Victoria reached out to say something, closing her mouth just as abruptly. So Zorro went on.
"Of course, I don't mind if you decide to adopt Paco. But you have to think about the boy and yourself."
Victoria had pulled herself back together and was willing to continue the argument they were having. "Zorro, do you have any idea how many women are raising children on their own? Because men want to fight in battle, travel the world or get drunk in a bar every night?"
"You're right." He had to admit. "A child has the right to two loving parents. And a couple should take care of their upbringing together. Too many children don't have that. Isn't that why you gave Paco a chance to prove himself in the tavern? Because you wanted a couple to adopt Paco?"
Victoria slumped back slightly. There was something remarkable in what Zorro said. "How do you know?" As far as Victoria remembered, she'd only discussed that part with the padre and don Diego.
"Um, don Diego mentioned something like that when I asked him about it a few weeks ago."
"You spoke to don Diego? About me? He didn't tell me."
"I sometimes ask him for information. As the editor of the newspaper, he is often aware of things that take place in the pueblo."
She looked at him suspiciously. There was some logic to it, but her instincts told Victoria it wasn't the whole truth Zorro was telling her.
"I asked don Diego why you were suddenly interested in an orphaned boy. Actually, he told me it was actually his idea."
"And do you talk to don Diego about me often?" The answer could better be to her liking, or both Zorro and don Diego had a problem.
"Um, I know that don Diego often hears the latest gossips from you. Like that time with Sergio and him wanting to ride with Zorro. I heard through don Diego what you and the padre were planning."
Victoria nodded, not convinced.
Don Diego in secret meeting Zorro. She was thinking about it, and it didn't sound too farfetched. Diego knew things about Zorro. Oh, it was always very casual. When a stranger asked something about Zorro, Diego was often willing to tell the person everything he knew. Was this a staged plan? Diego gave the requested information, leaving out crucial parts?."Does don Diego have a way to get in touch with you?"
She felt jealousy. For years, Victoria had thought she was some kind of confidante. Zorro always claimed to work alone. Apparently, he and Diego had misled everyone. It did explain why Diego sometimes seemed to disappear in the fog. Could it be that, at such a moment, Diego was going to warn Zorro?
"I know how to reach don Diego if needed." All the alarm bells went off in his head.
Victoria rewarded the answer with a broad smile. "I'm glad to hear don Diego sometimes helps you. He's a good man."
"Indeed he is."
A mischievous smile appeared on her face. "I suppose it might be why don Diego often disappears when trouble arises?
He may not be like you. But I think it's a brave thing to do. If don Alejandro ever finds out, he'll be very proud of his son."
Zorro grabbed her elbow. "Victoria, this is a secret. I didn't want to share at the moment. It could be dangerous for don Diego if it becomes known that he sometimes passes on information to me."
"Zorro, you can trust me. But hopefully, you won't blame me if I see don Diego and tell him more often about things going on in the pueblo. He doesn't even need to know." Victoria hurried to say when she felt Zorro wanted to say something. "And I will only tell him what I think is you need to know."
After that, the conversation became less and less while Victoria dozed off in sleep. She woke up for a short moment to say. "I can see an orange glow." Reassured her sight would return, Victoria snuggled up to the warm body holding her.