Chapter 35
"Damn it!" Victoria cried. "I told him not to."
Turning her gaze to Diego. "Your father has been trying to convince me to give him permission to ride dressed as Zorro."
"And you think he's doing that now?"
"You told him that if there were too many questions about why Zorro wasn't showing up, it might not be such a bad idea."
Victoria wanted to jump out of bed to get dressed. Felipe's presence in the bedroom made that impossible.
"I said no such thing," Diego responded.
Victoria uttered. "I think that's what he thought it came down to."
Diego turned his attention to Felipe. "Felipe, go saddle Luna and meet me in the cave. I'll be right up."
Felipe nodded that he understood and ran out of the bedroom.
As soon as Felipe was out of sight, Victoria started searching for clothes, meanwhile letting out her frustration.
"I told him every damn time not to do it. He is so stubborn!"
Diego was also busy getting on clothes.
"Could there be a reason why he chose today in particular?" He asked.
"You mean besides the fact that you hadn't told him only if there wasn't another option! And I didn't tell him at least two hundred times not to."
"I only told him that I assumed it wasn't necessary for him to ride as Zorro."
"Exactly that. You didn't tell him not to do it. So what your father heard was, fine ya, go ahead. Do as you seem fit."
Victoria fought to get her skirt on.
Irritated, Diego uttered, "Then why didn't you say better not to?"
"I did. Several times. I suppose you also prevented your father from many stupidities before he even started doing them?" Victoria said sarcastically.
Diego had to confess. "You have no idea."
Victoria's face was twisted. She had got up too hastily, and probably the night's meal of bread with cheese and a load of olives dipped in sugar hadn't been a good idea after all.
Diego was dressed to the point and was waiting for her.
"You go on ahead. I'll be right there." Victoria waved him away impatiently.
"Victoria."
"Just go." After which, she clamped her jaws together and kicked the potty from under the bed using her foot. While the door was still in the process of closing, Victoria let herself fall to her knees.
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Diego walked into the cave half-dressed and indeed found an empty stable. He also noticed that his best outfit was missing, and the sword was made of the best Toledo steel.
Diego began to undress again to put on his Zorro costume.
The door at the back opened. Felipe came riding in, seated on a saddled Luna.
"I have seen tracks which I believe lead east of here," Felipe said as soon as he saw Diego.
Diego let out some air hoping Felipe had seen it right. At least it seems his father was heading away from the pueblo.
He was putting on the black shirt, silently cursing his father. His father had taken all his favourite things. Diego needed to use some force to get his right foot into the boot that had become too tight since he had broken his leg a few years back.
Victoria, now also dressed, came walking into the cave.
With care, Diego selected another sword and hung it on his belt. "Felipe, you stay here. I want to be able, should it be possible, to hold on to the story of Diego, and you haven't returned yet."
Victoria suggested, "Shall I go to the pueblo? Maybe I can catch up on anything?"
Diego uttered, "Don't bother. Felipe has seen tracks leading east, away from the pueblo. I'm going to search in that direction first. It's far too early anyway. The only ones who might have seen anything are the lancers standing guard. "
"I hope Toronado is taking care of him."
Victoria twirled her fingers nervously.
Diego watched as Victoria suddenly turned pale as a ghost. She held a hand to her mouth, mumbled barely intelligible, "manure," and ran to the back entrance of the cave.
In large strides, Zorro and Felipe followed her.
Victoria stood by a tree, holding herself by the trunk next to the cave entrance, emptying her stomach. Concerned, Zorro waited until she was able to speak again.
With her hand, Victoria wiped her mouth. Slightly sarcastic, she remarked, saying. "Did I tell you about my latest ailment?"
"Does it bother you much?"
"Not so much. Only when I smell certain things before I've eaten. That's why your father or Maria brings me chamomile tea every morning. It helps. You'd better go." Victoria watched Zorro waver between going after his father and staying with his wife, who might need him. Affectionately, she thought it looked cute. She reassured him. "I'll feel better as soon I have eaten something."
"If you're sure." Zorro tried to kiss her.
Victoria covered her mouth with her hand. "Trust me. You don't want to."
Diego pressed a kiss to her crown.
"Go have your tea. Felipe, will you take care of her?"
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Zorro looked at the tracks that seemed to lead eastward from the entrance, mounted Luna, and at a brisk trot, Zorro set off in search of another Zorro.
After the first three miles, the tracks curved slightly to the south. Zorro did have an inkling of which way his father had gone. Toronado had, it seemed deliberately,
chosen an easy route. One where the moonlight had provided ample light over rather even terrain.
Then why hadn't horse and rider returned, Zorro, wondered, feeling concerned?
Zorro held in the reins, looked at the tracks in the tall grass, and continued on his way.
He would first check out the old mine shaft a few miles from here.
After about another mile, Zorro saw a figure dressed in black approaching. A wave of relief surged through his body.
At the same time, an ice-cold hand closed around his heart. The figure dressed in black was approaching on foot.
Zorro urged Luna to gallop. His father had noticed him, stopped walking, and waved.
"Diego, you're back! When have you returned."
The happiness Alejandro had felt when he had seen Zorro riding a black horse fainted. Zorro wasn't riding Toronado, and his son surely wasn't going to like what he had to tell him.
Zorro jumped out of his saddle to greet his father.
"This evening, it was late. You had already gone to bed, and Felipe and I didn't want to wake you."
"Son," Alejandro uttered. "I have a confession to make."
Zorro crossed his arms over his chest, sighed and said. "Let me guess. You thought it would be a good idea for Zorro to show himself? We'll talk about it later. First, I need to know where Toronado is."
Alejandro stuttered inwardly apologetically. "I, uhm, l lost him…,"
"Lost him? How?" Zorro asked sharply.
"Well, I was doing rather well. Yesterday, I told Mendoza I thought I had seen strangers near the old mine. I suggested he might consider sending out a patrol this way. He did, and they saw me." Alejandro's voice sounded smug when he said. "I heard them calling for Zorro. Toronado was fantastic! Those lancers didn't stand a chance."
"But where is Toronado?" Asked Zorro once again, seemingly patiently.
"Well, after a good bit of galloping, we had shaken off the lancers. I was about to turn back to go to the hacienda. I was orienting myself to take the best route when Toronado started to act strange.
I thought maybe he had got a pebble in a hoof or something, so I got off. As soon as I did, he suddenly took off."
"Toronado abandoned you?" Zorro asked, barely able to suppress his surprise.
Such a thing was nothing to his faithful stallion.
The don nodded. "I called and searched for him but couldn't find him. So, that's why I decided to get back on foot. Maybe something frightened him, and he went back to the hacienda." Alejandro's voice sounded hopeful.
His father knew all too well that Toronado did not scare easily. Diego had trained the horse for loud, unexpected noise and unexpected movements. Toronado would never run off all the way back to his stable. He would return to his master. Besides, Zorro was riding Luna and not Toronado. That alone should tell his father the stallion had not returned to the hacienda by himself.
"How long ago was this?"
"Don't know. I estimate about three hours." It was still a weak kind of mumbling what Alejandro did.
So then Toronado should have been back long before Felipe noticed the horse was gone.
Zorro took the clothes he had brought just in case out of the saddlebag. "Change your clothes. We can't have anyone seeing two Zorros."
Zorro took a deep breath and whistled as loud as he could.
Should Toronado hear him, the horse, if able, would come to him.
Zorro whistled about five more times. His ears pricked up, hoping to hear approaching horse hooves.
"Son, probably Toronado just ran home." Alejandro tried to reassure his son, with a stuttering voice confessing. "Although I have to admit I'm surprised he left me here."
Zorro whistled two more times with the same result.
His father had changed clothes and had only Zorro's boots on.
Zorro unbuckled the sword from his belt and replaced it with the one of Toledo steel.
"I'm going to search a bit further down the road, just to be sure. Will you wait here?"
"What should I do when someone sees me?" Asked Alejandro, stuttering.
"Make sure they don't see your boots. Get yourself rescued and leave a cross mark in the sand next to this rock. And why don't you tell them you fell off your horse in an early morning ride. Say your mare was startled by something."
The old don's cheeks turned a light red. As instructed, Alejandro sat down on a large boulder.
"Should Toronado come back unexpectedly, draw an O in the sand and take him home."
Zorro climbed Luna again, and a moment later, he was only a dark spot in the distance.
.
Zorro whistled a few more times, keeping his eyes and ears well open. It was realistic to assume the stallion would hear his master before Zorro could notice him. He would ride two more miles and then turn around to pick up his father.
Zorro was just about to whistle one last time when his attention got drawn to three horses that seemed abandoned. He decided to take a closer look before turning back.
The horses were tied to a bush, saddled and all. That alone was suspicious enough.
Zorro let himself slip from the saddle and crept up to the horses. In a soothing tone, Zorro stroked the nose of one of the horses.
The three horses and one mule made a reasonably taken care of impression. Where were their riders, Zorro wondered.
With his right hand on the hilt of his sword, Zorro peered around, looking for signs of human life.
About ten feet away, he found the remains of a campfire it got extinguished not long ago. Fresh food scraps still lay beside it.
What had made the owners decide to leave the place like that without even taking their horses with them?
Zorro found the answer a little further on.
He had to chuckle at what he saw.
Hidden between bushes and a rock crevice were three men sitting on the ground.
They had apparently long ago given up trying to escape the attention of their guard.
Toronado did not lose sight of them for a second.
Zorro cleared his throat.
Toronado scraped a front leg over the rocky surface, but his attention remained on the men.
"Trouble, señores?" Zorro asked, amused by his view.
The middle man was the quickest to notice from where the sound was coming. "At last," he began to complain in a plaintive tone. "You're finally here. It's about time. We were beginning to doubt whether you would ever show up." Anxiously the man watched Toronado.
Another one uttering. "Yes, we admit, we robbed a stagecoach near San Diego. Please, tell that maniacal horse of yours to leave us alone?"
Toronado reared up, his hooves going briskly past the men's heads which began to recoil anxiously further.
"You may be a famous swordsman. You're not that fast, is it?" One of the other men complained.
Zorro patted Toronado on the neck. "Well done, boy."
With Toronado keeping the men in his sight, Zorro was able to capture the men without difficulty.
"A stagecoach, you said?"
"Yes, the one from San Juan on its way to San Diego. We didn't expect the news spread to so quickly.
The money is by the campfire. You can take it. But, please, restrain that darn horse and keep it away from us. He is crazy, I am telling you."
The other two men nodded in agreement.
Zorro made sure each got on a horse and tied the animals to Luna's saddle horn.
"I thought Zorro had only one horse? Is that one just as crazy?" One of the men wanted to know, pointing at Luna.
"You didn't think I had come on foot, did you?" Without further explanation, Zorro mounted Luna, knowing that Toronado would follow in his wake.
.
When he was a few hundred yards out of sight of his father, he stopped again.
"Excusi, señores."
Zorro walked over to Toronado, stroked the stallion's neck, and said softly. "Father is waiting further on. Will you pick him up on your way home?"
Toronado roared and briefly thrust his head against his owner's shoulder.
Deftly Zorro tied a knot in the reins knowing his father would recognize Zorro's style.
Behind some rocks, he waited until he saw his father seated on Toronado galloping toward the hacienda.
His father was smart enough to avoid running into other travellers.
.
Near the gate of the pueblo, Zorro carved his mark into the crooks' clothing. He sent the horses in the direction of the pueblo.
"Give my regards to Mendoza. He is the current alcalde!" Shouted Zorro, knowing the lancers would soon discover the men.
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Back in the cave, everyone was waiting for Zorro.
Toronado was already in his stable, provided with a bucket of fresh water and an ample amount of hay.
Felipe's Pinto, Luna, and Esperanza were in a small makeshift corral hidden between the back of the hacienda and the sidewall of the cave. The corral was made years ago to allow Toronado to get outside and was too small for three horses.
"I'm sorry son." That was the first thing Alejandro said. "I thought I was doing the right thing. By the way, why didn't you come and get me yourself but sent, Toronado?"
"Because Toronado had captured three criminals. I guess in a while, Zorro can retire because my horse doesn't need me any more." Joked Diego.
Victoria was feeding Toronado an apple. "I couldn't believe him leaving your father behind just like that."
"No," Zorro agreed with her. "He probably thought it safer to take those criminals out for himself and leave my father somewhere safe. Toronado knew I would come looking for them both." Zorro looked at his father.
Guiltily, Alejandro stuttered. "I said I was sorry."
Zorro removed the mask from his face. "You promised to ride only if there was no other way. Victoria told me she's already told you several times not to."
"I know. What I did, ...it was... it was..."
"Stupid?! Something you'd always wanted to do once! You seized your chance?" Diego added, sensing that the temptation was too great for his father to fulfil what had probably been a secret dream for years.
Embarrassingly, his father nodded.
"Diego," Victoria intervened.
Diego took a deep breath. It helped cool him down a little. His father had deliberately chosen to put himself in needless danger just for the excitement. "Do you realize what could have happened if lancers had caught you? Or what if you had run into those three bandits?"
Diego felt his blood boiling in anger.
"Not only did you endanger yourself, but also the identity of Zorro! Have you ever considered that? Do you actually think I risk my life for fun?"
His father said nothing, not daring to look at Diego.
"Sometimes you did." Diego heard Victoria mutter, who was standing behind him.
Surprised, Diego turned in her direction.
"Diego, don't get me wrong. As Zorro, you have done countless incredible things. Many people own their lives to him. But even you cannot deny Zorro also took needless risks. There have been times when he came to the tavern for no other reason that we would see each other." She moved closer to him.
"And I was only too pleased he did. Still, isn't it somewhere the same as what your father did? You knew what you were doing was stupid, and you did it for the wrong reason. Not because anyone needed Zorro. But that Zorro was making his appearance purely and simply out of self-interest?"
The corners of Diego's mouth twitched.
"I always knew what risks I was taking." Diego defended his actions.
Victoria's voice remained remarkably calm. "Are you sure? I can recall Diego having several scars. Not all got there by themselves."
She was right. Hell, why was she right!? Yes, as Zorro, he too had done reckless things. Things about even Felipe didn't know and could be called stupid.
"Diego, I agree with you that it was not clever of your father." Alejandro wanted to say something, but one glare from Victoria was enough to shut his mouth.
"Remember, he didn't do it merely for himself. He did it mostly because he thought it was a way to help you."
Diego gave up. He had to admit that while he wasn't approving of what his father had done, it was partly his fault for not forbidding it. He had known his father longer than today and should have known better.
Diego made an arm gesture as if he were throwing something away. "It's all right. You can stop throwing more bad arguments at me. Just promise me you'll never do it again."
Alejandro hurried to say in a cramped voice. "You have my word."
"Well, apology accepted. If you excuse me, I would like to change my clothes. And father, would you please ride Luna back to her stable. Should Manuel asks questions, tell him you were in the mood for an early morning ride."
"All right, son. Will we see you later at breakfast?" Alejandro felt relieved the argument with his son had ended. He now wanted to get back to business as usual as soon as possible.
Diego shook his head. "Better not. Now that Zorro has ridden and got seen for the first time in weeks, Felipe and Diego should return a few days after."
Alejandro nodded understandingly. "Oh yes, I understand. Well, I'll go get Luna and come back later." The don left the cave.
Felipe looked at Diego, saying.
"You realize, should he ever feel needed, he will not keep his promise."
"Unfortunately, si."
Victoria remarked, placing her hand on her belly. "I think that goes for all the de la Vega men I know. None of you three will hesitate to risk your lives for others. That's why I secretly hope this one is a girl."
Now it was Felipe who burst into laughter. "Yes, women never do such things. It was not like when you got shot, it was because you jumped in between a bullet and Zorro, trying to save him."
Victoria gazed, blushing at Diego. That had happened during the time when she literally adored the ground Zorro walked on to the point of ridicule. And she had made no secret of her conviction that Zorro was so much more than what Diego could ever be.
Diego grinned. "I'm afraid we have to admit that much. It seems all of us can lose sense when it comes to the lives we care about."
Victoria and Felipe choked up. Victoria said, "You better not tell your father, or you never hear the end of it."
After this, Victoria promised to bring breakfast for Felipe and Diego later in the morning and slipped into the library unseen. By now, it was almost eight-thirty. It meant Maria had finished preparing breakfast and was probably starting to wonder why Victoria wasn't up yet.
Victoria hurried herself to the bedroom. She quickly changed her clothes and emptied the cup of cold chamomile tea in one gulp. Victoria appeared fifteen minutes later at the breakfast table, where Alejandro was already waiting for her.
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