I do not know where I am going with these chapters. It is not a story. It is just ideas and one shots that seem to fit here.

We all know that Diego broke his leg when a bull ragged the plaza.
Victoria was acting pretty mean at the end of that episode. What was she thinking at that moment? She was so proud of him at the beginning of the show.

Chapter 3

Thoughtful, Victoria watched Diego, leaning heavily on his cane. He stumbles across the plaza toward the tavern.
For years, she had been convinced Diego de la Vega was the most predictable man anyone could imagine.
Two months ago, it had become apparent to everybody surprise, don Diego had unexpected sides.

"Now, if that were Zorro, he wouldn't be such a baby over a broken leg."
Victoria was willing to bite her tongue as soon as she uttered the words. She fervently hoped the don had not heard those harsh words.
When had she started the bad habit of criticizing Don Diego like that?

Diego had a broken leg and had barely complained in recent weeks.
He had stayed in bed for the first three weeks after the accident to aid healing.
After that, he had been allowed to sit up with his leg constantly raised. Victoria had visited several times, and together they had spent many pleasant hours in the garden.

Only in the past two weeks had Doctor Hernandez authorized Diego to walk again with the aid of a cane.
Diego had been anything but a passive weakling that one afternoon nearly two months ago. In fact, she was still very impressed by his performance.

On the way from a nearby ranch to a cattle auction, a bull had escaped. Hunted by the vaqueros who tried to catch him and mad with rage, the dangerous animal was rushing into the pueblo.
There was immediate panic. The plaza had been packed with people because that day had been a market day. Which always brought a lot of activity.

The screaming, the panicked crowd had only fuelled the bull's fury.
Two lancers had made a valiant attempt to shoot the bull. One of them had managed to injure the animal. The blood had spurted out.
However, the bull did not die by the bullet. The animal, mad with pain, anger and panic, had turned its attention to a young girl, about four years old, wearing a red dress.

The mother was held down by several of the other women. To prevent the woman from throwing herself between the mad bull and her child. It had most certainly would have killed her. As if retarded, Victoria had watched the scene frozen with fear.

In their haste to do something, men had made lassos out of ropes. One effort had struck and caught the bull by the horns. Four men had tried with all their might and combined strength to restrain the bull. It had given don Diego the precious time to run like an arrow from a bow towards the child.
The horror that had unfolded before her eyes still haunted Victoria in her nightmares. Diego had, as if the child weighed nothing, had flung her into the air in the direction of Felipe. Diego had yelled, "Catch!"

In a panic, Victoria had screamed, Felipe couldn't hear him. After all, the boy was deaf. Miraculously, Felipe had apparently understood what Diego wanted him to do.
Lightning-fast, Felipe had stretched out his arms and plucked the little girl from the sky.
The sudden weight had caused Felipe to lose his balance and fall backwards.
Fortunately, Felipe was not injured and managed to break the girl's fall.

Meanwhile, Diego had pulled a broom from somewhere.

The four men who had tried to restrain the bull had given up their struggle to stop the animal, caused by a mad jump from the bull, who was still looking for his freedom.
The bull had pointed his anger to them and rushed at the men. In a panic, they had let go of the rope and dashed in all directions.
The men tried to do everything to prevent thundering bulls' hooves from thundering over their bodies.

The bull had snorted loudly, several times, scraping his forefoot on the soil. With renewed energy, he turned his anger on don Diego. The only moving object in his sight. Armed with nothing else but a broom to protect himself, Diego had tried to stay out of the path of the bull. The animal was thundering across the plaza with increasing speed.

Market stalls had been turned over in an attempt to block the bull's path. Nothing bothered the animal that stormed over and through everything. In minutes, the plaza had turned into havoc. Victoria had averted her gaze. She couldn't bear to watch it.

Meanwhile, the alcalde had heard the commotion. He had come out of his office. Expecting that all the noise meant Zorro had come to the pueblo. Dazed, De Soto had looked around. Then he started yelling orders at the lancers to shoot the bull.

Some lancers fired. Bullets had flown in all directions. It was a miracle that no one got hit.
Three lancers who had grown up on a farm knew that few were as unpredictable as a raging bull, and they were aware it was far too dangerous to fire a rifle.

The injury done earlier seemed to have weakened the bull enough in the end. Diego again managed to jump away from the bull just in time. But instead of taking the opportunity to seek safety, he grabbed the rope that hung around the bull's horns. He had jumped on the beast's back.

Diego, having nothing else than a rope around the horns to hold on. And his long legs pressed against the body of the bull. Diego had tried to drive the bull toward the gate. Out of the pueblo.

That bull was aware of the extra weight he was carrying and had begun to buck wild.

Diego hadn't given up.
In a brief moment of calm, the bull seemed to want to think about his next attempt to get rid of that, which was irritating him. Diego had wrapped the rope around the bull's neck and pulled with all his strength. The rope dug in the bull's throat, preventing him to breath.

Diego had kept this up until the bull collapsed unconscious on its left side. A cry of pain had echoed across the plaza when the bull fell to the ground.

Immediately, lassos had been thrown around the bull's legs, making it impossible for the bull to get up again.
Cheers and applause from spectators erupted. The bull got finally overpowered, and quickly, men had tied the hind and front legs together.

Only afterwards did it become clear don Diego had not come out of his valiant struggle unscathed. With the bull's fall, his left leg had become trapped under the bull. All the men had helped move the animal just enough to free Diego's leg from beneath the bull. Diego had looked pale, and his face had been twisted in pain.
The doctor had been fetched and said Diego had a broken leg.

Diego had been loaded onto a cart and got bought to the hacienda. Where doctor Hernandez had set and splinted his leg the best he could.
The pain must have been horrific, but Diego carried it bravely.

The vile comment that had escaped Victoria previous was more of an expression of frustration towards Zorro. And she fervently hoped that her good friend had not overheard her.
Her lover hadn't been seen or heard from for nearly two long months. It was as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth. It had raised many questions in the pueblo.
The cells in the cartel had remained empty. Not one bandit with a Z in their clothes, tied up, was brought into the pueblo.

In a matter of weeks, there was no longer a man who dared to ride the Camino real on his own. The chance of getting robbed was huge. Nothing or no one was keeping men with bad ideas away.
Even when de Soto had raised the traveller tax and everyone had anxiously awaited the arrival of the masked hero, Zorro hadn't appeared.

Victoria walked into the kitchen and cut an oversized piece of pie for Diego. As a sort of compensation for the comment, she had uttered out louder than she'd wished.

Zorro, so unpredictable it annoyed Victoria. Maybe predictability wasn't so bad after all.

Even the lancers hadn't seen Zorro riding on their daily patrols.
No matter what sergeant Mendoza claimed, the lancers weren't nearly as well-trained as he'd like to make belief.
A fact that was lucky for Zorro. But since he seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Real bandits got no longer arrested.
Where was Zorro, Victoria had wondered several times over the past few weeks? She had been concerned about his well-being. Surely, nothing serious would have happened?

A few years ago, a similar situation had happened. Without anyone being able to predict it, Zorro hadn't shown up for months. Fortunately, it had coincided with the alcalde being away, having more important matters to take care of in Mexico City.
Mendoza had been acting alcalde at that time, and Don Alejandro had helped him. The old don had been smart enough at the time to spread rumours that Zorro still was seen.
The lancers had also been more active during this period, so nothing alarming had happened.

And just like then, today, Zorro had suddenly reappeared as if he had never been away and nothing had happened.

Victoria had been so pleased to see Zorro was all right. What did annoy her at the moment was, he had barely paid any attention to her. Zorro had not even bothered to say a proper goodbye to her. He had rather gone, trying to capture bandits again.

Victoria picked up the plate with the oversized piece of pie to take to don Diego. The poor man couldn't help that Zorro hadn't shown up for weeks. Nor he could help, Zorro had appeared today, barely paying any attention to her.

It took effort, but Victoria managed to place a smile on her face. She opened the curtain separating the kitchen from the main room and walked over to the table where Don Diego sat, along with Felipe, his father and sergeant Mendoza.

It wasn't Diego's fault. Nor was it her fault that her comments come out sometimes harsher than she intended.

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