Author's Note: This chapter, like the last, is a bit of an experiment. I decided Zorro wasn't having quite enough fun, which is rather an essential part of his character, so I threw this in the mix.
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Diego bent lower over Toronado's neck, urging the horse to run faster. The horse's muscles bunched and they leapt over the narrow stream and up the bank. He nearly shouted with the joy of it.
During the day, his worries over the dangers to the pueblo and the alcalde's possible role and what to do for Felipe and so many other things might nearly overwhelm him, but now these things barely touched him. For Zorro, as always, there was only this: the lightning fast race through the darkness, the hard excitement of the chase, the thrill of drawing a hunt to its close.
The intoxicating curl of adventure through his veins was a call hard to resist. A surprise there, for a man given to seriousness all his life. And yet he never felt so alive as when he was humiliating yet another of the alcalde's schemes, or dodging the shots of the soldiers or leaping from Toronado onto a runaway coach. Zorro had released a side of himself he had barely guessed existed and still had the power to surprise even him. How ironic that it should take a mask to free him, as much as it bound him in other ways. It had become an addiction so strong he didn't know how he was to give it up should this never ending quest come to an end, no matter how much he might regret the reasons which had driven him into mask in the first place.
But for now there was just this chase through the twisting path through the scrub. He'd found a bandit separated from the rest of his gang on the road from the town. He'd let the man think he'd escaped, and now was tracking him back to his friends.
Through the darkness he spied a the flicking light of a campfire. As he grew closer he saw the man he'd been chasing ride up and two others silhouetted against the orange light of the fire. He grinned. Three was a very manageable number.
"What are you in such a hurry for?" one of the two men by the fire asked his friend who was just dismounting.
"Zorro!" the one he'd been chasing said. "He found me on the road. I managed to get away but-"
"You idiot!" said the third, spitting in disgust. "You don't get away from the Fox. He's probably tracking you as we speak if he's not here already."
"You are most perspicacious, my friend, for here indeed am I." Diego said from his vantage point just at the edge of the firelight. He bowed his head slightly in seeming respect toward the man who'd just spoken, grinning widely as he rose again.
The men scattered, drawing weapons. Diego wasted no time kicking Toronado forward. The third man aimed and fired his pistol, but Diego was already slipping to hang from the side of the saddle and the bullet passed by harmlessly over his head. As Toronado rocketed by the man, Diego grabbed the gun from his hand and hit him soundly on the back of the head with it. He dropped like a stone as Diego swung himself back upright and pulled Toronado back towards the other two.
The second bandit was also aiming a pistol as the man he'd tracked bolted off into the darkness. Toronado swerved, spoiling the gunman's aim, and a snap of Diego's whip sent the pistol flying. The whip cracked again, curling itself around the bandit's leg, and a pull of Diego's arm sent him sprawling on his back. Diego threw himself from the saddle and trussed him up before the dazed man could react.
That left the third, who had a few seconds' head start into the brush. But the man's panic was clearly robbing him of both strength and wits. Diego saw several signs of where the man had fallen in his rush and the direction he'd taken was leading him toward a deep gully with no easy escape.
An impulse grabbed Diego and he ducked and rolled forward just as the man leapt from behind a tree and swung at him with his sword. Diego rolled to his feet and drew his with a slight, ironic bow.
"Let us hope you make a better swordsman than you do bandit, Senor," he said with a laugh.
The man swore and swung at him wildly. Diego traded blows with him for a moment just for the pleasure of it, but eventually struck the sword out of the other man's hand. The bandit backed up and tripped backwards over a rock. He scrambled back, trying to regain his feet, but Diego leapt forward and pressed the tip of his sword to his chest and carved his signature Z into the fabric. The bandit understandably froze.
"Alas for you, Senor, it seems your fencing skills are also somewhat lacking," Diego said with mock sincerity. "Still though, think of all you have to learn! And is not the quest for knowledge one of life's greatest pleasures?"
The bandit groaned and Diego laughed pleasantly.
The pueblo's troubles might be legion and when he took off the mask he would have to remember them in full force, but sometimes it was well to remember that life could be very good indeed.
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Diego bent lower over Toronado's neck, urging the horse to run faster. The horse's muscles bunched and they leapt over the narrow stream and up the bank. He nearly shouted with the joy of it.
During the day, his worries over the dangers to the pueblo and the alcalde's possible role and what to do for Felipe and so many other things might nearly overwhelm him, but now these things barely touched him. For Zorro, as always, there was only this: the lightning fast race through the darkness, the hard excitement of the chase, the thrill of drawing a hunt to its close.
The intoxicating curl of adventure through his veins was a call hard to resist. A surprise there, for a man given to seriousness all his life. And yet he never felt so alive as when he was humiliating yet another of the alcalde's schemes, or dodging the shots of the soldiers or leaping from Toronado onto a runaway coach. Zorro had released a side of himself he had barely guessed existed and still had the power to surprise even him. How ironic that it should take a mask to free him, as much as it bound him in other ways. It had become an addiction so strong he didn't know how he was to give it up should this never ending quest come to an end, no matter how much he might regret the reasons which had driven him into mask in the first place.
But for now there was just this chase through the twisting path through the scrub. He'd found a bandit separated from the rest of his gang on the road from the town. He'd let the man think he'd escaped, and now was tracking him back to his friends.
Through the darkness he spied a the flicking light of a campfire. As he grew closer he saw the man he'd been chasing ride up and two others silhouetted against the orange light of the fire. He grinned. Three was a very manageable number.
"What are you in such a hurry for?" one of the two men by the fire asked his friend who was just dismounting.
"Zorro!" the one he'd been chasing said. "He found me on the road. I managed to get away but-"
"You idiot!" said the third, spitting in disgust. "You don't get away from the Fox. He's probably tracking you as we speak if he's not here already."
"You are most perspicacious, my friend, for here indeed am I." Diego said from his vantage point just at the edge of the firelight. He bowed his head slightly in seeming respect toward the man who'd just spoken, grinning widely as he rose again.
The men scattered, drawing weapons. Diego wasted no time kicking Toronado forward. The third man aimed and fired his pistol, but Diego was already slipping to hang from the side of the saddle and the bullet passed by harmlessly over his head. As Toronado rocketed by the man, Diego grabbed the gun from his hand and hit him soundly on the back of the head with it. He dropped like a stone as Diego swung himself back upright and pulled Toronado back towards the other two.
The second bandit was also aiming a pistol as the man he'd tracked bolted off into the darkness. Toronado swerved, spoiling the gunman's aim, and a snap of Diego's whip sent the pistol flying. The whip cracked again, curling itself around the bandit's leg, and a pull of Diego's arm sent him sprawling on his back. Diego threw himself from the saddle and trussed him up before the dazed man could react.
That left the third, who had a few seconds' head start into the brush. But the man's panic was clearly robbing him of both strength and wits. Diego saw several signs of where the man had fallen in his rush and the direction he'd taken was leading him toward a deep gully with no easy escape.
An impulse grabbed Diego and he ducked and rolled forward just as the man leapt from behind a tree and swung at him with his sword. Diego rolled to his feet and drew his with a slight, ironic bow.
"Let us hope you make a better swordsman than you do bandit, Senor," he said with a laugh.
The man swore and swung at him wildly. Diego traded blows with him for a moment just for the pleasure of it, but eventually struck the sword out of the other man's hand. The bandit backed up and tripped backwards over a rock. He scrambled back, trying to regain his feet, but Diego leapt forward and pressed the tip of his sword to his chest and carved his signature Z into the fabric. The bandit understandably froze.
"Alas for you, Senor, it seems your fencing skills are also somewhat lacking," Diego said with mock sincerity. "Still though, think of all you have to learn! And is not the quest for knowledge one of life's greatest pleasures?"
The bandit groaned and Diego laughed pleasantly.
The pueblo's troubles might be legion and when he took off the mask he would have to remember them in full force, but sometimes it was well to remember that life could be very good indeed.
