chapter 15:
Felipe sighed when he watched his adoptive father lying there while Clear Eyes was making a mix of plants. It took almost an hour before the potion was ready.
"Cunning Fox needs to drink this and then it's up to him and the great spirit." Clear Eyes threw the mixed drink in Zorro's mouth and made him swallow everything, "I want to keep him here for as long as his eyes are closed."
Felipe nodded, "Thank you." he signed, "Do you know what Krolax looks like?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have a sample. You can use it in healthy ways too, you know." Clear Eyes said, "We use it to sedate our people when they are badly hurt but Cunning fox had too much in his body."
"Can I let Toronado smell it? It could help to find the man responsible for it." Felipe was thinking way out of the box here but he had to do something. He knew if someone could pick up a scent it was the black stallion. He wanted the man to be caught for what they did to the person he loved the most.
Clear eyes nodded and stood up to take a wooden bowl on the other side of the teepee, "Here this is the mixture Cunning fox was poisoned with."
Felipe stood up and took the bowl with a nod.
Toronado was waiting next to the tent of Wise Eagle munching on some grass the Indians had given him. He looked at the cloaked figure knowing it was Felipe.
Felipe put the bowl on the ground in front of the mighty stallion, "This is what hurt Zorro. I want you to smell it."
Toronado nodded, he was a special stallion, as smart as a human being without the ability to talk. He breezed for a moment while shaking his head angrily. His ears flat against his strong neck while scratching his hoof over the rocky ground.
Felipe understood the horse's frustration. He too was angry but above all scared that Zorro was defeated this time.
There was one thing Pablo and Don Esteban didn't know about Krolax though. The smell would be on their hands for a few more days. No human could smell it but Toronado wasn't human. His sense of smell was a lot better.
Felipe was about to enter the teepee again with the bowl in his hands when Toronado was starting to act strange.
His ears were against his neck again. His eyes were large and dangerous. He leaped forward like the wild horse he once was. It was so bad that the Indians near him jumped aside.
Felipe was now the only one he accepted near him. The young man's hand caressed the stallion's neck in an attempt to calm the horse down. He looked around to see what could have set him off.
In front of him stood Angry Eyes. A chestnut mare in his hands and behind that man was a man. Felipe saw that man before at the wedding of his father with Victoria.
The closer the Indian warrior came with his prisoner, the angrier Toronado became. The stallion started rearing in the direction of Pablo.
"I think Toronado smells Krolax on him. I also saw him near Cunning Fox." Felipe signed he had to be careful not to say too much.
Angry Eyes took the man at his throat, "Did you poison someone in the last week? I want an honest answer."
"I don't know Cunning Fox." Pablo tried, he knew some Indians were walking lie detectors.
"Answer the question." Felipe signed, "or the horse will answer it for you. I am warning you if I step out of the way you are a dead man."
Toronado jumped a bit forward, he stopped next to Felipe. He was neighing furiously.
Never in his whole life did he see Toronado acting so furiously. Not even when they caught him, the time he was protecting his firstborn foal.
"I am counting to three." An Indian translated Felipe's every word he signed. The young man meant business.
He showed three fingers to the criminal. Pablo swallowed when the cloaked young man went from three fingers to two while the stallion next to him started scratching the ground under his hoof again, a clear sign of anger.
Felipe continued the count from two to one and was about to give the horse the sign when the criminal finally spoke, "We did poison a young don a few days ago. Out of revenge for what his wife did to my friend's brother, Don Domingo. It wasn't my idea. Neither did I want to disrespect your ancestors either."
"He was caught disrespecting our ancestors' resting place and I am afraid he can be a danger now for our brother Cunning Fox." Angry Eyes spoke now after Pablo was finished.
"He will get his trial by fire at sundown." Wise Eagle signed.
Felipe turned towards the big chief of the Indian village, "Before you give him his trial, can I ask him a few questions, Wise Eagle?"
The Indian nodded at that. Felipe turned himself towards Pablo again, "You can choose death by Indians or the stallion, I assure you when Toronado is done with you, you would wish you choose the other option, Where can we find the man who is responsible for the poisoning?"
"Answer him!" Angry Eyes yelled pushing him in front of Toronado's hooves, the stallion lifting one of them near his head.
Pablo swallowed again with fear in his eyes he answered, "Two miles south of the graveyard in an abandoned hacienda." He looked up to the seventeen hands tall stallion.
"I hope you are right about this! I will be back." Felipe sighed and pulled himself on Toronado's back.
"Wait!" Angry Eyes Stopped Felipe from leaving, "I am going with you with five of my best warriors, Cunning Fox is our brother too. If the identity of Cunning Fox reached our ears I will cut out the tongue of the one whoever speaks one word about it."
Felipe nodded. He could use a translator. So Angry Eyes pointed to five of his best and most trustworthy warriors and ordered them to follow. This time they all saddled a horse in a matter of minutes the group rode in the direction of where Pablo had pointed them.
The criminal was speaking the truth, about 2 miles from the graveyard stood an abandoned hacienda. He saw a dark brown horse with black manes and tail munching some hay in the pasture.
Felipe urged Toronado forward towards the man who was watching the horse, Angry Eyes by his side the rest of the warriors behind them. It was the don who had gratulated his father and Victoria in his own traditional way.
Felipe stopped and turned towards Angry Eyes, "Can you follow me and leave the warriors where they are now. Toronado has a bone to pick with this man and I am not going to stop him. I will leave him alive for your warriors though."
Angry Eyes nodded and followed Felipe who walked closer. He took the sword from where it was tied up behind the saddle waiting for the man to turn around. They didn't have to wait long though. The man startled seeing a cloaked figure on a black stallion and six Indians all armed to the teeth in their own way.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Trying to hide his fear and nervousness.
"A little birdie told us that you poisoned someone important to us." Angry Eyes said trying to let Felipe sign as little as possible.
Toronado was acting nervous. These were all the signs Felipe needed. He jumped of Toronado's back and stood in front of the stallion. He raised his hand. The stallion stopped for a moment but was making clear with his leg that he wasn't calm.
"You have until the count of three to confess or my friend here will take a step aside. Fast Fire is a stallion you don't mess with nor with humans important to him." Angry Eyes said calmly.
"I don't know what you are talking about!" The man said obviously lying through his teeth.
Felipe just shook his hooded head.
"Wrong answer." Angry Eyes responded to Felipe's shaking, it was like they had talked this through.
Felipe took a step aside and the stallion stormed towards the don and reared in front of him. This made Esteban fall on his behind. He was crawling against to poles of the pasture. The stallion landed his hooves at each side of the man.
"Fast Fire is very angry." Angry Eyes said coldly, "You can choose, you confess everything you did or his master won't stop him from attacking you."
Esteban knew that he had no other choice, "My name is don Esteban Alegra. The woman, going by the name Victoria Escalante, who just married that rich don has ruined my brother's life by smacking him in the head so I want her to suffer too by taking away what is most dear to her. Which in this case was her husband. I gave him the Krolax, he should be dead by now."
"You made an attempt to murder our white brother, you will be trialed for murder by our people." Angry Eyes nodded towards Felipe.
Felipe took a step backward but the don had a small knife hidden in his boot. He threw the knife towards Felipe, but the master himself had taught him well. He hit the knife with the blade of his sword, making the knife flying in the other direction.
Toronado pushed the man to the ground and made sure the man couldn't move by placing a hoof on his chest. He used just enough pressure to make sure that he didn't break the man's bones.
Angry Eyes took this opportunity to grab the man and tie his hands up. He signed for another warrior to take the horse of the evil don with him while Felipe jumped on Toronado's back. Angry Eyes tied the don to the saddle of the horse the Indian was riding.
The trip took another half an hour, don Esteban running behind Angry Eyes' horse. The Indian stopped in front of Wise Eagle, "This is the man that poisoned our white brother, Wise Eagle."
"Both of them die at sundown." Wise Eagle signed.
Felipe sighed he knew his father wasn't going to be happy about it but he couldn't bring himself to care about the lives of the two criminals. Not this time.
The cloaked figure jumped of Toronado's back who was munching hay again. He walked inside the tent but was disappointed that Zorro was still unconscious. He placed himself next to the cot.
Felipe stayed that way for hours, he started to doze off when a voice spoke now, a voice he thought he would never hear ever again, "My head. What happened? Why am I here and dressed like Zorro?"
Felipe jumped up and wrapped his arms around the neck of his father before signing, "Someone had poisoned you but I brought you to Clear Eyes. That is why I dressed you as Zorro."
Clear Eyes was happy to the moment he entered his tent again, "Welcome back in our world, Cunning Fox."
Felipe started to sign everything that had happened. Like he thought Zorro wasn't happy with the trial by fire sentence but Wise Eagle didn't want to return on his decision. Zorro couldn't do anything more than respect the chief even if he was a man who chooses life before something else.
"I think it's time that we are going to make other people happy," Felipe signed before turning towards Clear Eyes, "With your approval of course?"
Clear Eyes nodded, "He needs to be careful for the next few weeks but I don't see why I need to hold him any longer."
Felipe nodded and thanked the tribe for everything. Zorro wanted to see the bandits but Felipe shook his head, "We need to go home and you need to rest!"
Zorro smiled but he still wasn't happy with the decision of the tribe but right now in this state there was nothing he could do.
Toronado laid on the ground to make it easy for his master to mount him. Felipe took his place behind Zorro and was the one holding the reins.
"Go home, Toronado," Zorro whispered to the stallion who was happy to oblige.
Don Alejandro had dozed off behind the desk while Victoria was trying to get her mind off her husband and what could happen when she heard the secret door open. She looked up and saw her Zorro sitting up, he was weak but he was alive.
"Father, Felipe did it, Diego is alive." She yelled happily before storming towards the stable to help Diego from his stallion.
"Oh, my Diego. I am so happy to see you!" Victoria said happily and relieved. She hugged him closely the moment stood next to Toronado.
Felipe removed his cloak happily.
"Diego, I am happy to see you, my son." Don Alejandro smiled with tears in his eyes.
"You still need to rest, Diego, so no more riding for the next few weeks until you are stronger. Let me help you to put on your other clothes." Victoria said still worried about his weak state.
"I can do it myself, querida," Zorro said but Victoria didn't take no for an answer.
"Diego De La Vega, I don't care. I am going to help you whether you like it or not. Your father and Felipe will go inside the hacienda and make our room comfortable and send for doctor Hernandez." Victoria said with her hands on her hips.
Don Alejandro shook his head and chuckled, "Welcome back my son." his father hugged him now and signed for Felipe to follow him.
Diego became stronger every day and was fully healed after three weeks in bed with an overprotective wife by his side.
Five months later his daughter Elena Gabriella De La Vega was born at the same night Dulcinea gave birth to a twin. which was rare for horses even rarer was the fact that they were both alive. Two little stallions, a white one and a black one. The father came every night when he came back from patrol with Zorro. For the first time, Dulcinea felt true love from a stallion but that is food for the next story.
