Chapter 6

The doctor shook his head, frowning deeply. "He's just not getting any better. I don't understand it. The wound is badly infected. And his body isn't fighting it off. He's very fit, and very healthy, his body should be providing some resistance."

"What do you need?" Alejandro asked. "Anything you need. You shall have it."

Hernandez stared sadly at the caballero. "I've treated him with every medicine that I have. I -. I have nothing else."

Tears began dripping down Victoria's cheeks and she angrily wiped them away. "You can't give up!"

"Oh, Victoria," the man turned kind eyes on the upset woman, "I will not give up on him. Just as you shouldn't. But, medically, my hands are tied. I don't know what else to do."

"Wait," Alejandro shook his head. "Diego kept a journal. I found it when I found the entrance to the cave. He - I think he mentioned treating wounds. Yes. He did. When Victoria was shot. And when I was injured." Alejandro stopped for a moment, remembering all the clues that she should have recognized. But there was no time for regrets right now, he needed to think. He'd just read that journal. "Yes! There were medical terms in there that I didn't understand." He glanced hopefully up at the doctor. "Perhaps you would be able to understand?"

Hernandez nodded emphatically. "Yes, yes. Get this journal."

But Alejandro had already rushed out the door to get the book.

Hernandez smiled hopefully at Victoria. "Diego is well known for his interest in the sciences. Perhaps we will find something in his writings that will help save his life."

Victoria said nothing, simply pressed Diego's fingers to her mouth and kissed them lightly

When Alejandro returned, he was panting heavily. "Here it is. Please. Please find something within that you can use."

The doctor took the journal from Alejandro's trembling hands and began to scan the book. It was amazingly detailed and in good order. If he could just remember around when Victoria was shot, or when Alejandro was injured, perhaps he would find some useful information sooner.

He felt a pang of guilt at reading such personal thoughts. As he scanned the pages, the doctor gained a new respect for Diego, a man trapped by his own goodness, by his desire to fight the injustice in the only way he knew he could protect those he loved. When he came to an intensely personal page, he risked a glance at Victoria, who was watching him with anxious hope.

"What?" She asked slowly.

"He loves you very much." He flattened his hand against the page and smiled.

She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. "I know. I think I've always known. I just refused to admit it. And when Zorro-"

The doctor continued to quickly scan the pages when a few words popped out at him. He read carefully, and was smiling when he looked up. "He has done some extensive research. With all of the cuts and scrapes he's gotten over the years, he's learned how to treat them most effectively."

"Can you find something to help him?"

"Well, he talks about copying and synthesizing some serum that I had used when Alejandro was ill. It broke his fever when nothing else would. "

"I remember that."

"He mentions storing it in a cool, stable location. " He addressed Alejandro. "Might you know where such a place might be?"

Alejandro nodded. "I do." He turned to Felipe, who had just walked in with a tray of soup. "Come. I need your help."

Victoria took the tray and placed it on the bedside table.

The doctor nodded and helped the Señorita to get as much nourishing liquid into his patient as possible.

When Alejandro returned, he carried with him a small dark bottle, the stopper sealing the contents well enough to keep them free of contamination.

"I hope this is what you need." Alejandro breathed. "Felipe knew right where it was."

"Good, good." The doctor took the bottle and continued reading. "Well, and here I thought my treatment of Victoria's injury had been what saved her life." The man snorted in mock annoyance. " Apparently, Diego added a bit of his own experimental medication to my treatment."

Victoria smiled slightly, remembering back to that time when she had been shot. She had recovered quite quickly for an injury as severe as hers had been. Everyone had praised the doctor's excellent treatment. Knowing it was Diego who had aided in her recovery ripped even further into her torn heart.

"It worked." Victoria whispered, her memories shooting straight for the night she had kissed Zorro for the first time. Right outside in the de la Vega garden.

Hernandez nodded and continued his reading. "It worked incredibly well. Let's hope it works as well for the one who discovered its medicinal properties."

Felipe gestured suddenly as if remembering something. He indicated the journal and then pointed to the door motioning for Alejandro to follow him. After the two had disappeared, the doctor set the bottle down and turned the page.

It didn't take long for Felipe and Alejandro to return, this time with a smaller journal Felipe knew to contain an account of a multitude of scientific discoveries and medicinal treatments.

"Felipe this is excellent." Hernandez eagerly took the book and opened it. "Now to find the right concentration. He probably mixed this serum with something. If he used it to pack a bullet wound. This substance as it is currently would be far too thin."

Felipe nodded rapidly and made a few wild, incomprehensible hand gestures. When he realized they couldn't understand, he slowed his movements so they could follow.

"Tree?"

"Bark?"

"Sap?"

Felipe nodded at all of them as he gestured from the bottle to the journal and back again.

"Ah, here it is, then." Hernandez nodded, eyes scanning the pages quickly. "Diego did document quite clearly what was to be mixed with this serum to give it the right consistency." He glanced up at Felipe. "Does he have some kind of laboratory where I can find these items? I must admit never having heard of some of them."

Felipe nodded slowly, casting a glance at Alejandro.

"Victoria, stay with Diego, keep talking to him, make him hear you. We'll be right back." Alejandro led the doctor out of the room while Victoria flattened her hand against the unconscious man's cheek and whimpered against his arm.

"I don't think I need to remind you that what you see here must-"

Hernandez raised his hand. "I will keep this in the strictest confidence, Alejandro."

When Alejandro motioned toward the fireplace, the doctor concealed his momentary surprise when he saw that a panel had swung open. How often had he stood right in this very room? The complete and total deception just boggled his mind. But, he really had not time to think about it. Diego's life depended on his ability to find and synthesize this serum. Or so he had forced himself to believe.

Alejandro led the way into the cave and the doctor couldn't quite fight back the urge to stop at the top of the steps and gape in astonishment. His eyes slowly scanned the room and shaking his head he released a long, deep breath.

"It really was quite the deception." Alejandro admitted slowly. "The my own son deceived me so completely in my own home is not something that a man such as myself is very comfortable admitting."

Hernandez glanced around the room one more time before stepping up to the table upon which sat many finished, and un-finished experiments. It was a lab more extensive than he had seen in a very long time and he discovered a new-found respect for the multi-faceted Diego. He set about his work, reading the journal and gathering the supplies.

Felipe appeared with sealed jars from a nearby counter and set them on the table before the Doctor. Then he stepped back, wanting to stay out of the way while the man worked. He wanted to help, to feel useful, but he wanted the doctor to work as quickly as possible. The medicated paste was made fairly quickly and when the doctor nodded to Alejandro, the ranchero led the way out of the cave, Felipe on his heels.

As distracted with the task at hand as the men were, they didn't notice that someone had knocked on the door. And as the doctor followed Alejandro out of the secret panel, the alcalde stormed through the door a servant had just pulled open.

TBC