Warning, This is not a cheerful chapter.

It contains violence and is unfriendly to women.

Personally I think it's on the edge of M-rated so be warned and stop reading if you don't like it. I promise this is the only chapter is this story that dark.

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Chapter 13

Victoria was thirsty. How many hours had passed since she was taken away so rudely from the tavern? Two, three? It felt like many more. She assumed only a few hours of daylight are left.
Francisco was beginning to get impatient. He kept glaring outside, mumbling, he will come.
Her arms and legs were painfully lame from being forced into the same position for so long. Victoria could barely move.
Victoria had tried to make contact with Francisco. She tried to ask with her eyes to get the gag out and to get some water. He had ignored her.
The snake, she was outside, apparently was still on the lookout for Zorro.

Surely Zorro would come for her. The couple had been right about that. The question was when and silently Victoria had prayed the masked fox would not fall in the trap the man and woman had set.
Victoria heard a strange sound. It was like the call of a kind of bird, but it sounded human. By the way, Francisco acted Victoria, realized it was the signal he was waiting over. He hides himself behind a wooden partition in the barn.
The light coming in the barn by the door opening vanished when it got filled with the figure of the famous over six feet tall hero.
Victoria tried to warn him, shouting his name. Of course, that was impossible.

"Victoria," Zorro looked around and hurried to her in shock.

Diego did not understand. He was here to rescue señorita Annabella. Felipe had come back from the pueblo, explaining the stage had got robbed. The robbers had stolen some valuables and kidnapped the young woman. Since Los Angeles was the pueblo the closest by, Juan, the stage driver, had returned. The alcalde had sent out a search party. Felipe had headed for the hacienda to warn Zorro. Diego did not like the señorita the slightest bit. Zorro could not let robbers get away that easy, not if someone innocent was a victim.

Following the tracks, Zorro had realized the lancers had started to follow the wrong set of tracks. And the robbers were hiding on his father's property in an old shed.
Zorro had scanned the terrain, not seen any movement or horses. He had almost got certain he somehow got mislead, and the robbers had wiped out the tracks leading to their actual destination.
He only had got off Toronado and entered the shed in the hope to find a clue where they had gone too.

When his eyes got used to the darkness of the shed, Zorro saw the silhouette of a woman tied on the floor. For a moment, he believed his eyes deceived him. The woman on the ground was not señorita Annabella. It was Victoria. How the hell did she get here!?

Zorro wanted to free Victoria and get the way out of here. Something was wrong. The voice in his head, warning him someone had set a trap for him. He places his hand on the handle of the sword. His eyes flashing around the barn, searching for who is behind this. Zorro hears laughter, draws his sword and out of the stable box, a man comes in eyesight.

The man was cleaning his nails with a knife. "The famous el Zorro, I expected you hours ago."

Sounding sarcastic, Zorro replies. "Did your mother never taught you not to play with knives?"
Zorro sees how Victoria her eyes light up.

"My mother taught me never to underestimate your opponent." The man points a gun at Victoria.
"Hands in the air, Zorro, or your wench dies."
Victoria is struggling with the ropes and tries to make noise.
"You see, it is all about the right bait and preparation. But that is something my father told me."
Before Zorro can think how to get Victoria out of this, he hears a gunshot and feels a terrible pain in his back. Turning around, he faces Annabella. She is holding a gun, smoke coming out of the barrel. "And never trust a woman." Francisco chuckled. "That is also something my father taught me."

Victoria screams when Zorro sinks to the ground.

Francisco walks over to the snake and disgustingly kisses her, Annabella happily saying. "I told you he would be a piece of cake. Too much honour and dignity."

Francisco walked over to the masked man, kicking him hard in his back. Zorro did not respond. "He isn't even that impressive."

"He is worth six thousand pesos! Dead or alive. Francisco, we are rich. We can get married now." Annabella tries to hug the man, he pushes her away and starts laughing.

"I never marry a slut like you."

"Francisco, what are you saying? You said..."

"Do you know how much your brother is paying me? And how much money women ask for just a few minutes of pleasure? Honey, you were fun while it lasted, but you thought I actually cared for you?"

The expression on Annabella her face changed from excitement to pure horror. "Francisco, what do you mean. You promised..."

"You gave me an easy life, and I no longer had to pay to get laid. It was a win-win situation. Bella, you volunteered to lay on your back for free. All I had to do was say I love you."

Señorita Annabella looked like she saw water burning, shaking all over her body. Her voice was trembling. "You love me. You said so. You promised to marry me if we had enough money. Francisco, think of our child. I am pregnant." She had fallen through her legs. Annabella was now on her knees on the ground in front of the ruthless man. With tears in her eyes, she was begging.

Francisco went on saying the most horrible things. "Who says I am the father? You were so easy to take. I doubt you were a virgin the first time shagging you."

Annabella started crying, covering her ears with her hands. Like she could pretend that way, Francisco did not say those cruel words. "You are the only one. I love you. Please, Francisco, stop it. Say you love me. Please, say you love me."

He slammed her hard in the face, blood coming out of her , standing next to Annabella, kicked the woman in her stomach. She was placing her arms over her belly to protect her unborn child.
"You begged me to shag you, and I did. Now stop making a fool of yourself, or I will help you get rid of that bastard." Kicking her again.

Annabella curled herself up to a helpless pile of grief. "No, no, you love me. Francisco, stop it, stop it. Our child."

Victoria closed her eyes. She could not stand this wrongdoing.
Annabella screamed, cried and begged him to stop. After a few minutes, Annabella did no longer make any sound.

At the left of Victoria, Zorro was unconscious on the ground. A puddle of blood became visible in the sand. He was losing blood rapidly.

Francisco smiled and approached Victoria. "See, all you need is the right bait and use your brain. Now, you wait here. I am going to claim my reward, but don't you worry. I'll be back."

Rudely Francisco tied Zorro arms on his back, then Francisco checked, or Victoria was tied in a way she could not get loose.
Francisco walked over to the blonde woman unconscious on the ground. He took the golden necklace of the neck from Annabella and took her earrings from her, winking at Victoria.
"I have always appreciated the small values in life. She gave me a nice time, you know."

He took two steps backwards in the direction of Zorro, to bend over to lift the heavy man on his shoulder, Victoria presumed.
It all happened so fast. Somehow, Zorro was able to stretch his legs and make Francisco stumble. Victoria screamed without making a sound when, like in slow motion, Francisco started to fall forwards. He reached out his arms to break his fall. He tried to regain his balance, starting to fall back against the wooden wall. A large iron pin, sticking out. The iron pin went in the back of Francisco and came out in the front. Victoria closed her eyes. She could not watch the horrific scene she was to witness.

Francisco looked at Victoria, then at Zorro. He placed his hands on the part of his body the iron pin was coming out. His hands covered in blood, Francisco stared at his hands. "You, son of a bi..."
After that, Francisco was dead.

Zorro crawled closer to Victoria, having only eyes for her, and all he could think was he needed to get her to safety. About five feet away from her, he lost his consciousness. A trail of blood was visible in the sand, Zorro still losing blood.

It felt impossible. Inch by inch, Victoria moved closer to the man she cared for dearly. Tears are running over her face. She had to save Zorro. Get him to safety and stop the bleeding. See, or the bullet was out.
Her legs and arms refused to do what she was forcing them to do. Victoria managed to get to the point she could reach for his belt and feel Zorro, his dagger. She needed a knife to cut the ropes.
Her fingertips couldn't reach the handle of the weapon.
Shuffling herself closer to the body of the outlaw, she tried again. At first, her arms hurt from being in the same position for hours. Now it hurt for the strange angles she made them bent as Victoria tried to reach the dagger. Her fingers were slipping off it countless frustrating times.

Finally, bit by bit, the dagger came out of its holster. And the second struggle started, holding the sharp weapon in her hands while her arms are tied and trying to cut through the ropes.
When the first rope finally gave, Victoria got some more mobility, and the others soon followed. Getting the gag out and untying her legs, she turned her attention to Zorro.

A moan. Relief overwhelmed Victoria. Zorro was alive, cutting the ropes around his wrists Victoria insists him.
"Hang on. We need to get out of here." Tears are blurring her vision and worry her mind. How? What was she to do? Victoria had to pull herself back together.
Getting up, she searched the shed looking for something that might be useful. Victoria heard water running. Outside was a small stream. Thirsty herself, she started drinking.

She tore a piece of her skirt, making it wet, and went back inside. Knelt beside Zorro, dripping some water in his mouth. "Victoria," He mumbled, again drifting away.

"Zorro, you need to stay awake. You were shot and losing blood."

It was like his voice came from the distance when he opened his eyes and Victoria read his lips. "Bleed, stop."

Stop the bleeding. Right. How to do that?
Again taking the dagger, Victoria ripped to strokes of one of her underskirts. The other she took off and folded into a small bundle, pressing it against the wound as hard as she could.

After some time, the bleeding seemed to get less, Victoria tied the improvised bandage as tight as possible using two stokes of cotton.

"Victoria, you need to go." Zorro is saying. It cost him a lot of strength.

"What? No way."

"Can't ride. Take Toronado."

"You listen to me, Zorro. If you want me to be safe, you better stay awake and help me. I am not leaving you alone! So my safety depends on you."

It is like he tries to chuckle. "Stubborn, like me."

"Tell me where to bring you?"

"Toronado knows. Cave..., Felipe...," Victoria could barely hear the words Zorro squeezed out, using strength he no longer had.

Felipe? They had been close by the de la Vega property when Zorro took her to his cave on the day she sprained her ankle, and he had proposed to her. Did this mean don Alejandro, Diego and Felipe helped Zorro more than everyone already knew? But then why only saying Felipe name?

In the second stable, Victoria had seen a horse. It must be the one Francisco and Annabella had used to get here. Victoria got the saddle off and dragged Annabella close to the horse. She cursed herself for trying to help the snake, but also felt something of pity for the young girl. The pueblo was only a few miles, and the horse was a rented one from the blacksmith. It would find its way back home.

Like she had called him, Toronado came to Victoria after had sent the horse and rider in the direction of the pueblo. "You need to help me, Toronado. I know you are smart. We have to get Zorro out of here."

The mighty half-wild stallion allowed Victoria to take him in the shed.
Zorro was half unconscious and kept repeating that he had to get Victoria to safety. Victoria took advantage of this by threatening him with everything pretty and ugly.
"If you want me to get to safety, just get your ass on that damned horse of yours. " Softly whispering in Toronado's ear. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what else to do."

Toronado allowed it to happen resignedly and sank to the ground to make it as easy as possible for Zorro. When Toronado finally stood upright again with Zorro on his back, Zorro suddenly looked at Victoria. He looked very bright out of his eyes.

"You have to tie me up."

"No, how so?"

"I'm going to pass out. Tie me in the saddle."

On Toronado's gear, Victoria saw a stout rope. She made a loop and wrapped it around the saddle knob. Then around Zorro's right leg, back to the saddle knob around Zorro's waist and her his left leg. She repeated this until she ran out of rope and silently prayed that it was good enough like this.
Zorro had a point, if he fell off the horse on the way, Victoria would never get him back on.

When she finished, Victoria saw Zorro looking at her. "Love you." And he passed out.

The ride was long, and progress was slow. Victoria knew this barn was on the de la Vega property. She was an estimated five miles out of the pueblo and three from the large hacienda.
That was closer by and had always been a safe house. For her, and knowing the don's it will be for Zorro. Furthermore, it was most likely Felipe was also at the hacienda. Victoria was questioning herself again why Zorro wanted Felipe. A ridiculous idea came to her mind again, as it had hundreds of times over the last few years. Was it possible don Diego and El Zorro were not two persons, but one?
Dismissing the idea, Victoria took the reins of the large horse and started walking again. She forced herself to ignore and shut her ears to the moans Zorro sometimes made. She needed to get him in safety first and planned to cry her eyes out later.

After about a mile, the moans changed to words. "Toria, need to safe..."

Victoria stopped the horse, and when she looked at the man on the horse, she got scared. Zorro was fighting to get loose, and his eyes had a terrifying glare.
She placed a hand on his knee and said, "I am safe. I get you to safety. I am bringing you to the de la Vega, which is nearby."

"Toria, need safe."

"Zorro, I am here. I am safe."

Zorro did not listen to her and was getting more restless, struggling with the rope. "Toria, where is Toria? Need safe Toria."

Not sure what she could say to convince Zorro she was alright. He was burning up with fever, blind and deaf for everything.
"Zorro, listen to me. Victoria is safe. Sit still, and I bring you to her."

"Victoria?" After she had said her name and the word safe, Zorro stopped moving in the saddle, and his eyes calmed down.

Victoria repeated words that seemed to help. "Victoria is safe, I bring you to her, I promise."

She remembered what Zorro had told her. She needed to get him to Felipe. Asking herself why Zorro had said that name and or the deaf-mute boy was Zorro secret helper.

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Please, send me a PM if you think it should be M-rated. I do not write to offense, so I will change the story to a M-rated if people think I should.