Chapter 11 [Parlor—A Half an Hour Earlier]
[A/N: Okay, Folks, you had to know I was going to spring this on us. Manolito's about to get some answers and (since it's him) trouble….lol!]
Manolito paced about the parlor. Modern Sensibility updated some furniture. New paintings had replaced Alejandro's choices along some walls. A few of Diego's books still dotted the shelves off to one side. The latter's piano sat in the corner.
A few keys pressed revealed Off Key music.
¡Qué lástima! He grimaced. He recalled Alejandro and Diego setting their respective fingers on Enthralling Journeys across the Ebony and Ivory for their Victoria's and Mercedes' respective benefits.
"It sounded better years ago." Ricardo stepped into the room. He glanced around. "I remember Abuelo playing Chopin and Brahms for Abuela. Her eyes would sparkle." Sentiment's tear coursed down his cheek. "You are thinking of that night." He nodded. "She told me it was magical."
Manolito released a profound sigh. "There are no words, Don Ricardo. Buck, Sam and Pedro armed their rifles in their rooms. Blue listened. He drew with paper and pencil." He looked about the chamber. "Don Diego surprised me. He looked to Victoria. It was like she pulled a switch. Passion just POURED from his fingers into those keys. It was for all of us. But it was for her. Don Alejandro took his turn." He shook his head. "¡Madre de Dios! I have never heard Chopin played like that! Not even Mama could match that." He rubbed the back of his neck. "He wanted her to stay. And all I could think about Nuestra Mercedita. He wanted her to stay with him. I had to get back to her. It reminded me, Don Ricardo. Lo siento…."
"I know how much Mercedes and you love each other, Manolito. You should feel that way. Muchissimas gracias." Ricardo rubbed his arm.
"I still want to know how Felipe did it though." Manolito frowned. "Later I was at that table by the window. I checked my pistol and rifle. Felipe, the servant boy, had a covered serving plate in his hands. I looked away. Then he vanished like some ghost."
Ricardo rubbed his chin. "He disappeared." He snorted. "Manolito, this is to remain between us. ¿Entiendes me?"
"Of course. What? You know?" Surprise narrowed Manolito's eyes.
"I've known for thirty years." Ricardo signed a few hand gestures. "Tio Felipe told me about it."
"You…" Manolito laughed. "Oh well done, Don Ricardo! Well done!"
Ricardo walked over to the fireplace. He checked his pistol. "I'm full. You?"
"Full of course. Don Ricardo?" Manolito raised a questioning eyebrow.
Ricardo reached under the shelf. "Here it is." He pushed up on the panel underneath it. "Watch the fireplace."
Manolito watched the panel slide open in the back of the fireplace. He shook his head. "Vamanos." He edged around the grate and through the opening. He found himself in a granite passage. "¡Ay Caramba! Hey!" He found a burning brazier off to the left. "I thought you said…?"
"I said I have not been here. Someone else, it seems, has found the passage." Ricardo took a stick and lit it from the fire. "Keep your pistol ready. We may not be alone." He shook his head. "Con cuidado."
"Sí. Con cuidado he says." Manolito rolled his eyes. "I am not responsible if anything happens!" He curled his lip. "Maria and Mercedes are never going to stop yelling." He drew his own pistol. He followed Ricardo through the granite-lined twists and turns.
Ricardo grabbed his arm. He put his index finger to his lips. Then he headed down another turn in the passage.
Where are we going anyway? Manolito crept along behind Ricardo. A breeze whistled by his face. He scratched his head. A breeze under ground? Is this a cave?
Noises echoed from ahead.
"¡APILA ESTA MIERDA! ¡QUÉMALO!" a familiar voice bellowed.
Manolito glared at the sky. Tio Eduardo! ¿Por qué no estoy suprendido? ¡Ay Chichuahua! He cast a look back into the passage. He saw nobody in the lit passage. Then he turned back toward Ricardo.
Ricardo stopped in front of an opening in the granite. He motioned Manolito to the other side of it. Then he peered out just enough to see what was going on.
At the bottom of the second granite staircase, seven bandidos threw the familiar dark shirt, pants and boots into a pile. Dusty scientific apparatuses broke into glass shards.
Eduardo watched by the open cave entrance. He stroked the dark whip in his hands. He spat on the mask. "HEY, PABLO! ¡ASEGÚRATE DE QUE ARDA BRILLANTE!"
Manolito watched to insure nobody saw Ricardo or him. Shadow covered his descent down the stairs and along the cave's wall. He crept across the dirt floor. Much as Apache, his boots made nary a sound. Then he felt something brush against his boot. Pepper stung at his nostrils.
Three of Zorro's stink bombs had rolled to a halt from one of the overturned boxes.
Manolito bound his neckerchief over his nose and mouth. And now this? Plan came to mind. Deviousness lent a glint to his eye. His grin widened. He stuffed two of the bombs and held one in his hand.
The bandidos piled more clothes and gear in the pile. They grinned. Hatred of the Fox had aged for generations.
"TOMAS! ¡VAMANOS! ¡QUIERO EL ESPECTÁCULO!" Pablo ran his hand against the well embroidered black and silver saddle on the stall's wooden siding.
Manolito reached the overturned table. He saw a particularly rotund gap-toothed man with a scraggly mustache raise a torch. The things I do! He threw the bomb in his hand toward the Gap Tooth and the bandidos. He raised his gun and fired two shots.
One bullet severed the torch clean through the wood. The burning end hit the dirt floor away from the threatened pile.
The second bullet struck the thrown incendiary. It unleashed the potent herbal mixture therein. Much as Rescendo's soldados had on the plaza, the bandidos gasped in its fumes. Eyes burned and watered. Nostrils clogged. Nausea unsettled stomachs.
Ricardo had tied his own handkerchief around his face and head. He raised his guns. "GUNS AND GUN BELTS ON THE GROUND, DON EDUARDO AND DON PABLO! ¡AHORA!"
"¡HEY, TIO! DID I OR DID I NOT TELL YOU TO ACT NICELY?" Manolito strolled around the fumes' edge. He kept his pistol trained on his uncles.
"Manolito!" Eduardo spat. "¿Como está su Padre?" Defiance sparked in his eyes.
"Don Sebastian died a coward! I avenged Doña Anita!" Pablo hissed though clenched teeth.
Manolito set his jaw. He raised his pistol. His eyes narrowed.
"MANOLITO! STOP! THIS IS NOT THE WAY!" Ricardo shook his head. He understood Vengeance's desire. He craved Retribution's payback for his trees and rancho. "¡RECUERDAS DÓNDE ESTAMOS! ¿QUÉ HARÍA EL ZORRO?" He shuddered and mouthed a silent prayer.
"MANOLITO! STOP!" John hurried down the stairs. He had his pistol trained on the suffering bandidos. He grimaced at the stench. "What the Devil?" He raised his neckerchief over his nose and mouth. "Angelina! Cover your nose and mouth! The air's bad down here! It stinks like pepper!"
"He found the bombs. ¡Por supuesto!" Angelina rolled her eyes. "¿Por que no estoy sorprendido?" She pumped her Remington and went down the granite stairs. "Don Ricardo! Manolito!"
"Doña Angelina de la Vega!" Eduardo smirked. "You look good in grease, Puerca!"
Angelina aimed and fired her rifle right at the two Dons' feet. "Gané el concurso de tiro en la última fiesta. ¿Quieres decir algo más?"
Manolito winced. "You two certainly have a way with the ladies! ¡AY CARAMBA! Tio Eduardo, Tio Pablo, I think I would do as Don Ricardo said." He raised his own gun again. "I can still hurt you. I just can't kill you."
Eduardo threw his gun down. "Do it!"
Pablo scowled but cast aside his gun and belt.
"Angelina!" Manolito glanced at her.
"Ellos estan cubiertos." Angelina moved into the cavern. "Cover your faces!"
Maria emerged into the cave next. Despite the covering over her nose and mouth, Irritation watered at her eyes. "Was ist das?" She kept the rifle ready. "Mercedes! Stay back! Watch the passage!"
"I am!" Mercedes agreed from the left side of the entrance. "Is Manolito all right?"
"I cannot see!" Maria frowned. "RICARDO!"
"MARIA!" Ricardo's voice called back through the smoke. "WE'RE ALL RIGHT!" He took several heavy steps by the old horse stall. His boot pressed down on the old panel in the dirt.
Gears creaked to life. Ropes pulled. The cave wall raised up.
Fumes escaped through the opening.
Three more screams and hacking fits could be heard outside.
"HEY! WE HAVE MORE AMIGOS!" Manolito hustled out the cave opening. There the rest of his uncles' bandidos writhed and vomited on the ground. Disgust curled his lip and batted his hand in front of his face. He shook his head.
"And who do we have here?" John trained his pistol on the afflicted men.
"It seems we had extra bandidos for an ambush. They thought of everything." Manolito kicked the guns away from the men's hands. "Too bad I remembered mi historia." He grinned and pointed to his pocket. "Zorro's stink bombs. They have quite the kick." He shrugged.
"Yeah you said it all right. Now I believe you." John batted his hand in front of his face. "Let's get them in the cave. We'll have to watch them until Don Carlos can call the sheriff." He turned to the bandidos. "ALL RIGHT! ON YOUR FEET! MOVE!"
The bandidos got up slowly. They held their stomachs. Disdain bit from their eyes.
"Andale." Manolito motioned with his gun.
The three men shuffled to where their comrades, Eduardo and Pablo sat against the granite wall. They held their suffering stomachs. Green colored their faces. Their watering eyes beheld the rifles and pistols trained on them throughout the cavern.
"MANOLO!" Mercedes called from the entrance.
"HEY! You stay there! It smells really bad down here! I am all right!" Manolito waved to her.
Relief lightened her heart. She narrowed her eyes. Her hand batted at Stench. "¿Qué hiciste?"
"¡MERCEDES, QUÉDATE ALLÍ!" Ricardo yelled over her shoulder. He kept his eyes right on the bandidos.
"JOHN?" Victoria rushed into the cave. "What?" She coughed.
"Get back into the cave! ¡Don Carlos, cubierte su cara!" Mercedes pulled Victoria back into the passage.
"What did he do?" Carlos covered his nose and mouth. He marveled at the passage. He nearly tripped over the other staircase. "¿Es cierto? ¿Realmente es cierto?" He steadied himself and walked down the rest of the stairs. "¡Increible! ¡Nuestro abuelo realmente era El Zorro!"
"¿Ahora lo entendes, Papa?" Sarcasm spiced Angelina's tone. She held the rifle on the bandidos as well. "¡Habia diez bandidos!"
Apology reddened Carlos' face. He surveyed the cavern, the bandidos and his guests. He saw the rumpled clothes and broken equipment. "Those…were his?"
"Sí." Manolito pointed to his uncles. "These are the men who murdered my father, Don Carlos. When the Consul comes tonight, he will know this is a serious matter."
"Hey, Montoya! They will not care! Fue un duelo justo. Don Sebastian y yo." Pablo spat at Manolito.
Manolito wiped the spit off with the back of his glove. "Tio." He shook his head. "There is one very small detail I think." He squatted down in front of the two brothers. "Where are we?" He rubbed his chin. "Ah yes! We are in America!" He winced. "We have caught you invading the Rancho Vega. You destroy not only property but valuable historical property. The Santiago y Amistads and you conspired against us. A political marriage. I am sure Anita is so happy now." He patted his uncle hard on the back.
Pablo clenched his mouth. "Her..m…" Nausea beset his stomach again.
"What? What did you say?" Manolito turned Pablo toward Eduardo.
Pablo vomited on the ground between himself and his brother. Bile burned at his mouth. Queasiness unsettled him. "You…will pay, Manolito."
Eduardo grimaced at the brown specs on his clothes. He scowled.
"Sí. That is what I thought you said." Manolito backed up. His gun remained trained on his uncles. "Those are ruined! Tio Pablo, really?" Sarcasm and Satisfaction pushed a chuckle from his mouth.
"I have a secure place." Don Carlos waved his pistol. "Everyone! On your feet!"
The bandidos stood. Indignation chiseled itself onto their faces. They marched out of the cave and up the hill. With the collected posse's guns at their backs, they trudged back toward the rancho compound and the storage building at the back.
Perhaps Zorro had departed this life but Manolito the Fantasma y Sus Compadres were there….