Chapter 8

Zorro rode into the cave, stepped down from Toronado and began to tend the horse. It was still early, and he hoped to get into bed unseen and thus catch a few more hours of sleep. Recent times had been harder on him than he had thought beforehand. Living under one roof with Victoria brought, also another kind of stress besides the emotional strain of hiding his feelings for her. He had to be constantly, even more than usual, on his guard.
He had been lucky more than a few times.
Once, for example, Victoria had come walking into the library as he was just about to enter the cave, and the hidden door was wide open. Zorro had been badly needed at the time because some cattle thieves had attacked a nearby farm. In her innocence, she tried to start a friendly conversation. With every minute passing, the chances of the cattle thieves escaping increased.
Fortunately, Felipe had distracted Victoria by pretending want to show her something. It had allowed Diego to slip into the cave to make his appearance as Zorro as quickly as possible. Again, precious minutes passed because Felipe was not there to saddle Toronado while he dressed up like Zorro.

And then there was the tension that surged in his body as Victoria walked down the hallway with slightly tangled hair. Or the sight of Victoria sitting in his favourite chair. The countless occasions, his nostrils got unexpectedly filled with a gust of her sweet scent. It took Diego more and more effort to keep control over his feelings for her.

Zorro had been busy the past few weeks. Last week had been a full moon, and it seemed that scum was descending on Los Angeles like flies on a jar of honey.
On several occasions, Felipe had had to excuse him at dinner with the time-honoured excuse that Diego had gone to bed early with a headache. Or he felt unable to attend dinner for some other feeble reason.
In truth, Diego could not remember the last night he had slept normally.
When it wasn't Zorro keeping him out of bed, it was the thought of Victoria that kept him from sleeping.

Diego felt too tired to move any futher. He stripped off the Zorro outfit and put on his usual clothes. For convenience, Diego didn't even bother to button his shirt. It was too early for his father or the servants to be awake. On stocking feet, carrying his shoes in his hand, Diego slipped past the fireplace into the library. Then, as quickly as possible, he made his way into his private quarters.

In the semi-darkness, Diego didn't see the envelope on the fireplace carrying his father's name in Victoria's handwriting.

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After a few hours of sleep, Diego wakened by Felipe. It was a tacit agreement between the men after a night's riding. Felipe would wake Diego around this time to be awake before his father came angerly rushing in to wake him. His muscles felt sore and stiff from the long night spent in the saddle.
Out of his closet, he grabbed one of his best suits and dressed at an impressive speed.

Maria had left a breakfast tray on the table. On it was a pot of cold coffee, fruit, and breakfast. Over the past few years, he had become accustomed to drinking cold coffee. Diego could use the invigorating drink to banish the last vestiges of sleep from his body. He shivered for a moment as he greedily drank the cold liquid. Then Diego picked up an apple from the plate and set his strong teeth into it.
At Diego-like a pace as possible, he walked to the library.

There he found his father standing, reading a letter.
The don's face had left in a worried grimace.
"Bad news?" Asked Diego worriedly.

Alejandro glared up at his son and said. "Victoria has left."

An icy hand encircled his heart. "Left? What do you mean?"

"Here, read it." His father thrust the letter into Diego's hands. "She writes that after weeks she has finally decided what she wants. Victoria is going to live with her brother in Venezuela."

Diego couldn't believe what he was hearing, and his head refused to understand what the black letters on the cream-coloured parchment meant. Yet there it was, black on white. Victoria apologized for disappearing in such a manner. But sudden changes in her situation left her with no other option. She hoped Diego could sell the tavern at a price high enough to pay for his investment.

His father was dumbfounded. "Diego, do you know about what changes she is talking? Surely she hasn't received any more bad news. She wasn't at the table yesterday either. You think it has something to do with it?"

"I have no idea."

Diego racked his brain. What could have caused Victoria to decide this so suddenly? She just abandoned everything and everyone without even saying goodbye. Even Zorro she seemed to have forgotten. The stagecoach had passed Los Angeles three days ago. If Victoria had received bad news, something must have happened in the pueblo or brought by courier.
Diego reread the letter again in search of a shred of information.

His father asked. "Why would she do such a thing? For the past few weeks, she has been working so hard to make her restaurant a success. And I had the impression she couldn't wait to see the new tavern to be finished."
Alejandro took the letter from his son's hands again and let his eyes glide over it once more as if he hoped to discover a hint of what had changed her mind so abruptly.
"Something must have happened," Alejandro uttered. "It's nothing for Victoria to do something so drastic. Could the alcalde have had something to do with it?" He suggested it because he couldn't think of anything better than that either.
"She specifically asks that we respect her decision and leave her alone. Diego, say something! What do you think? She can't just do this! She can't just leave everything and everyone behind, can she?" Irritated, Alejandro shook Diego. "Diego!" Why was his son always so passive when you needed him?

Diego awoke from his trance and took off running towards the stables.
There he found Juan sitting in his familiar spot, napping on a chair.
"Juan!" Cried Diego, raising his voice, for he knew the older man was almost as deaf as Felipe had everyone believe him to be. And once asleep, it was barely possible to wake Juan.
"Juan!" Cried Diego a second time, this time so loud that the man was startled awake.

Blinking his eyes against the sunlight, Juan uttered. "Uh he, I wasn't sleeping. Don Diego, what can I do for you." The man grinned. "You want me to saddle Esperanza to go the pueblo?"

Diego spoke loudly. "Señorita Victoria, have you seen her!"

"Oh, si. I helped her buckle her cart this morning. She said she was going to San Diego to pick up things she had ordered weeks ago."

"What time was that!?" Diego asked impatiently.

Alejandro had caught up on his son, curious what his man had to tell.

Juan scratched his balding crown with his hand. "What time was it? It was before sunrise. I think it was just past five. I asked her if it wouldn't be better to wait a while and ask you or your father to accompany her. Señorita Victoria said that you both knew of her plans, and I had nothing to worry about."

Diego wanted to strangle and kiss the man at the same time.

Juan mentioned. "I thought it was odd that neither of you offered to accompany her."

Diego urged Juan. "What else do you know!?"

"Don Diego, that's about it. Señorita Escalante did have a travel bag with her. I thought that was a bit odd."

"Anything else!?"

Juan shook his head and spat out a fluff of chewing tobacco. "Nothing worth mentioning, don Diego. Except...,"

"Except what!?" Diego was getting more impatient.

"Well, you see, don Diego. I thought the señorita looked a bit sad. Like she had been crying and hardly had slept."

Diego slapped a hand on Juan's shoulder and squeezed.
"Gracias, Juan!"

Diego ran back to the hacienda. He didn't hear Juan utter to his father. "Was I to tell her not to go!?"

Diego completely ignored his father, who was trying to keep up with him and entered the guestroom used by Victoria for the past weeks. On the dresser was a pile of pesos with next to it a note. On it, Victoria made an apology and explained she knew it was an insufficient amount to cover all the expenses. Victoria promised she would send more money as soon as possible. Diego threw the note on the floor and pulled open the closet. In it hung many colourful dresses, skirts, and blouses. On the shelf were the wooden figure of the two doves he carved her and the silver mirror, hairbrush and ivory combs. The presents Zorro had given her. Why had she even left those?

His father came to stand beside him, panting heavily and looked at the clothes.
"All your mother. Victoria only took what she recently bought because she refused to wear these clothes any longer."

Diego hadn't heard the last sentence. He had left the room, heading for the library.

He didn't hear his father calling. "Diego, wait! Where are you going? I'm coming with you."
The old don chased his son to the library. Alejandro determined should Diego go after Victoria, in an attempt to find out what had made her make this decision, they would go together.

When the don reached mentioned room, Alejandro was just in time to see his son suddenly disappear without a trace into what always seemed to have been a solid wall. For a moment, Alejandro was too stunned to do anything. Where the hell was his son, he asked himself.

Then, like a mad man, he began to cry out, not knowing how his son could have disappeared so suddenly. Had he not seen it with his own eyes, he would not have believed it.
One moment, he had his son in plain sight. The next second he was gone.
It seemed like some magic.
Not knowing what else he could do, the don began knocking on the wall.
"Diego, Diego! Do you hear me? I know you are in there! Where are you? We have to find Victoria! Diego!" No response.
Alejandro scaned the massive wall. His son could surely not suddenly have dissolved. Diego must have used a secret door or something. Was there something hidden behind the fireplace he didn't know? But then why didn't he know anything about it? And how was it possible Diego did? And why..., why had his son gone in there at a time like this? And why, if this was all the case, why didn't Diego open that DAMN door from the inside!?

Alejandro slammed against the board of the fireplace.
"Diego, Diego! Open that door, do you hear me? This instant! If you don't listen to me then..., then I will, I will...," Alejandro sputtered, frustrated.
"I don't know what I am going to do to you! But, young man, you're not going to like it! Diego! Do you hear me!?"

At random, Alejandro began patting the board above the fireplace, searching for something. A hidden lever or whatever was activating the system Diego had used to pass solid brick.
Internally, he was fuming. His son just ignored his rays. In a rapidly rising anger, he tried to find what needed to reopen the fireplace.

During his efforts, things were starting to get clear to him. Things as why he found his son in the library so often when Diego seemed nowhere to get found moments prior. Why Diego was often found in the library, when he believed it abandoned.
Instantly, more questions arose, such as why had his son never told him.

A loud clatter behind him scared Alejandro. He turned around and felt like a fool. The don was aware of what this must look like to the eye of the beholder.
A sensible, adult man was slamming on a mantelpiece like he had lost his mind and, by this odd behaviour, he expected something to happen.

Standing in the hallway was a pale Felipe. At his feet was a tray and the remains of food that had dropped out of his hands.

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Diego did hear his father calling in the background but ignored the man. He didn't have the time to think of meaningless excuses or reasonable explanations. Diego needed to go after Victoria. When he returned, he would explain everything to his father or try to talk himself out of it. If necessary, he would confess his secret after all these years. First, he had to discover why Victoria had suddenly disappeared from theirs and mostly his life. She had left like a thief in the night without saying a word. There had to be a reason for why she had left.

Diego tried to remember what had happened the previous days. Two days ago, nothing seemed odd. And yesterday. Zorro had come back early in the morning. Diego had brought her to the pueblo, returned to the hacienda, and then he took a long, much-needed siesta. He hadn't noticed any disturbing behaviour during the short ride to Los Angeles.
The rest of the day, apart from a few minutes, he went to her room to ask whether she needed anything he hadn't seen Victoria. She had seemed a bit out of her usual habit. Had he not paid enough attention and missed the clues that should have told him something was wrong? Victoria had said to be tired and in need of rest, claiming a headache.

Diego had the started to get feeling her stay at the hacienda had brought them closer together. Had he been wrong? Diego had felt the increased uneasy tention between them. As Diego, he had hoped it meant Victoria was developing feelings other than sisterly for him.
He needed Victoria in his life more than anything. Diego was determined to find her. If necessary, he would tell Victoria about his alter ego and beg her to stay in Los Angeles. With him, Zorro or Diego. He loved her so much.
The thought of never seeing her smile and sparkling eyes again, hearing her laughter and sweet voice. Turned that out to come true, he had no reason to live.
Faster than ever before, Toronado was saddled, and Zorro had put on his costume.

His life's happiness depended on whether he would succeed in finding Victoria.
Had she indeed gone to San Diego as Juan claimed? Or had she gone straight in the direction of Venezuela? Victoria had at least a five-hour head start. Had she taken the main road, it would not be easy to follow tracks.
Given she had a head start, her tracks could already have vanished due to hooves in the sand and cart tracks of other travellers. And there was the dry surface. It hadn't rained in weeks.
Diego realized there was no background noise any longer. It meant his father had stopped shouting and pounding.

Zorro was in doubt as to what to do. Go straight South West, to San Diego or in the direction of Venezuela.
The main road South or the shortcut to San Diego? Risking on missing her had she gone in the direction of Venezuela. The shortcut was less suitable for rider and cart. It was safer, though. Most criminals preferred the main road as it got used more often.

Zorro had to choose between two options. It all came down to instinct and luck. He jumped on Toronado's back and left the cave.

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"Felipe, I saw..., Diego, ...," Alejandro knew he looked ridiculous and was babbling incoherent words. What wat it Felipe thought right now? That he had lost his mind?
Yet Felipe's reaction also baffled the don. The boy seemed particularly frightened and stared wide-eyed at the fireplace as if he expected it suddenly to disappear or something like that.
To give some attitude, Alejandro uneasy smiled as he kept tapping on the fireplace. He pretended it was the most common thing in the world to do, and he used to tap on the board of the fireplace on a daily basis.

Suddenly there sounded the scraping noise of stone gliding over stone. If possible, Felipe's face turned even paler, and he took two steps forward. Alejandro took two steps backwards and was just able to grab onto the sofa to keep from falling. He had done it! The last casual tap on the mantel had opened the hidden door again.

Felipe began to run to keep Alejandro from entering.

"Diego! Diego!" Shouted Alejandro. To his horror, Alejandro saw how the door began to close again. He hurried to get up.

"Felipe, please, help me. The mechanism must be in here somewhere." Again, Alejandro began to pound on the board. On about the same place as before, searching for whatever had caused the door to open. Alejandro looked fleetingly at Felipe. He sensed he had to explain to the boy what was going on. The poor boy looked frightened to death.
And since the boy was deaf, Alejandro could only hope the boy felt capable enough to read his lips and would understand what he was saying. Slowly articulating the words, Alejandro said, pointing to the fireplace. "Diego is in there. Why, I know not. But we have to find him. Victoria is gone."
To show the urgency, Alejandro began knocking on the fireplace again. For a second time Alejandro hit the right spot to open the door.

Felipe shook his head and tried to stop the don. The don proved stronger than thought. Or perhaps Felipe respected Alejandro too much to be capable of physically hurting the don.
In any case, Alejandro managed to push Felipe off of him.
Felipe fell backwards onto the floor.

Alejandro cried. "What's wrong with you, Felipe? You're acting as weird as Diego!" Irritated, Alejandro saw how the door was closing on him again.

This time Alejandro hit the right spot in three taps and was able to slip into the entrance. "Come with me." He gestured to Felipe. "Diego! Where are you!?" Alejandro called out again. Walking down the narrow corridor, he spotted the stairs just in time to avoid falling down the three steps.
And then his mouth fell open in utter amazement. Alejandro blinked his eyes. He was standing in a cave. But this was anything but an ordinary cave.

Alejandro turned and saw Felipe standing at the beginning of the corridor.
The don shook his head, lowering himself against a wall to avoid falling to the ground, before looking sideways into the cave.
Alejandro desperately tried to understand what he was seeing. His eyes must be deceiving him. For what he saw could not be anything other than imagination.

His entire body was trembeling, and his head was feeling light. It felt like his blood had stopped pomping. "No, no," Alejandro muttered.
He had no other choice but to conclude. "It can't be."

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