Chapter 2
It doesn't matter how fast a lie can run.
In the end,...
Two hours later, Diego was sitting next to the bed on which the sergeant was lying. Felipe had asked him, or Zorro wanted to ride to capture whoever did this. Diego had been honest to Victoria. It was a moonless night and would be of no use. The good news was the fever hadn't increased. The bad thing, Mendoza had not been awake for a second.
To his great surprise, Victoria had refused to return to the pueblo. But she had insisted on joining Diego to sit with the sergeant. Well, the sergeant was a friend of hers as well, and she was a caring woman. Neither spoke much, each sitting on one side of the bed. Diego, who had been up half the previous night to ride as Zorro almost all day, was tired and wanted to sleep.
Still, the feeling of wanting to watch over the sergeant and spend time with Victoria was tempting.
The first hour Diego and Victoria had talked about what might have happened. Now there was a comfortable silence. Victoria, getting up every once in a while to replace the cold compress on the sergeants' forehead. Slowly without realizing it, Diego started to doze off.
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Victoria did not know the precise moment, but suddenly she was well aware that Diego had fallen asleep in the chair. He must have been tired, for it looked very uncomfortable for the young don to sleep in a chair. His hand was supporting his head. The oil lamp on the nightstand next to the bed gave enough light to make it possible for her to secretly glare at the young don.
Diego somehow looked different, younger, more relaxed, less uptight. A small smile on his lips made her wonder what it was Diego was dreaming over. It must be something pleasant.
The top three buttons of his shirt undone revealed a bit of naked skin. The sight of it made Victoria question whether his skin was just as smooth and warm as it looked and how it would feel to run her fingers over it.
Victoria blushed, she was not supposed to have these kinds of thoughts, and where did it come from? Wasn't she to dream of Zorro? How would Zorro's skin look and feel?
Diego was her friend. Sure he was handsome. Not nearly as Zorro, but still. Diego had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. The skin of his arms was tanned. Unlike most other caballero's, Diego did work at the rancho sometimes.
Not nearly enough to please don Alejandro's liking, enough, however, for his arms to look muscular. His hands, Victoria knew, were strong. His fingers long and elegant, hiding their strength. There also was some callus on it. Not in a rough way like hers, just enough to send shivers down your spine when hands accidentally met.
Victoria got out of her chair to replace the compress on Mendoza's head, throwing some of the cold water in her face to cool down herself a little. Her face was burning up. It almost felt like she was the one running a fever.
It was remarkable she had never noticed it before Diego, never was completely relaxed. Always on his guard for…, for what really?
From the end of the bed, Victoria took a blanket and placed it over Diego's body. He twisted a little to get in a more comfortable position. Mumbled something that sounded like querida.
Victoria felt a sudden attack of jealousy Diego was thinking about some woman. And why shouldn't he? She was in love with Zorro and thinking of him all the time. Still, it was annoying finding out Diego was thinking of the woman she hated since the day Victoria had heard of her existence.
Victoria went back to her chair on the other side of the bed, seeing how shadows in the room played with the light from the lamp. Sometimes half of Diego's face was in the shadows.
Being able to look at Diego without having a chance to be disturbed, it surprised Victoria how much resemblance there was with him and her masked hero. She had always known, the two men shared some similarities, both tall, well physical physique, black moustache.
Zorro's moustache always tickled in a pleasantly kind of way when they kissed. Victoria closed her eyes, allowing herself sinful thoughts of Zorro's lips and fingers touching parts of her face and body. In an ideal world, there would no longer be a need for Zorro. They could be together. In that ideal world, Zorro and Diego would even share more similarities. What a ridiculous thought? Where did it come from? Was she hoping Zorro and Diego were the same?
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Unlike Diego, Victoria did not sleep at all that night. Hating herself for she caught herself several times staring at the sleeping Diego, not only dreaming of how his skin would feel but also how it would feel if his lips were to run over her skin. She tried not to but couldn't help herself.
Victoria did not forget to take care of Mendoza. With endless patience, she had managed to make him drink two glasses of the water containing the white powder the doctor had given Diego.
Every time Mendoza started to move in his bed, she got up, checked for his fever and tried to give him some sips to drink or change the compress on his forehead.
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It was sunset when Felipe entered the room. Victoria waved at him, greeting the boy. "I do not know, Felipe. It looks like the sergeant isn't getting worse, so I presume that is the good news."
Victoria had whispered, yet the words had been loud enough to wake up Diego. Stretching his tall body, all Victoria could think, was a good thing Diego was unaware she had been fantasizing over his body half the night. Victoria had been even dreaming about him being Zorro. Quickly she excused herself and almost ran out of the room.
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After breakfast, doctor Hernandez arrived at the hacienda accompanied by the alcalde who wanted to check on his sergeant. Victoria informed both men how the night had gone. Doctor Hernandez nodded approvingly when Victoria told him she had managed to give the sergeant some of the medicine he had left. The doctor examined the sergeant, the fever had not risen, but the danger was not gone.
De Soto seized the opportunity to let the people in the room know who he held responsible for the whole affair. "This is all thanks to Zorro. If the sergeant dies, Zorro will no longer be a common criminal but also a murderer.
Don Alejandro disagreed on it. "You have no evidence whatsoever Zorro has anything to do with it."
De Soto irritated someone had the nerve to question his supremacy hissed. "Don Alejandro, it was your servant who told me the sergeant was riding on Toronado. It is crystal clear to me, Zorro shot the sergeant, regretted it for some reason and now hopes doctor Hernandez will save Mendoza.
Private Gomez is still missing. I have sent my lancers out to find him. I have very little hope he is still alive. Zorro must have shot him too."
"That absolutely makes no sense alcalde, and you know it. Zorro never even carries a gun. Mendoza was shot! Not sliced to pieces by a sword!" The old don was getting angry. How dared the alcalde made such unfounded accusations.
"Don't ask me to understand how the mind of that criminal works, don Alejandro, Toronado is a half-wild horse. You think that horse allows that dumb ass on his back if Zorro hadn't anything to do with it?"
"That is your sergeant you are talking about, alcalde! I am telling you if Zorro wanted, he had killed you and your men years ago. Zorro is no murderer!"
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All of this happening, Diego had no idea. He had left the hacienda and was now as Zorro searching for the men who shot the sergeant. Since Toronado had found the sergeant yesterday, he gave the horse free reins, and soon he noticed some blood on the ground. Dismounting, he looked around. Not far from where Toronado had stopped, Zorro saw four lancers. One of them being corporal Sulpevelda. Each had taken off their helmet, standing next to the dead body of private Gomez.
Sulpevelda saw Zorro first. "Zorro, you can come closer. We know you didn't shoot private Gomez or the sergeant. No matter what the alcalde says. If you wanted to hurt us, none of us would be standing here today." The other lancers nodded agreeing.
Zorro took off his hat to pay some tribute to the dead private. He had always tried to avoid shedding blood. The lancers all stepped aside so he could join their circle. Corporal Sulpevelda started talking again.
"Zorro, you think those horse thieves did this?"
"I am not sure, corporal. There sure is a chance that is what happened."
"The sergeant, I have heard, is at the de la Vega hacienda. He is fighting for his life. Rumour has it Toronado is the one who found him. The sergeant is a good man. He always tries to protect the citizens in his kind of way."
Zorro needed to pretend not to know about the sergeant, and so he asked. "The sergeant is injured, and Toronado found him?"
"Si, that is what Manuel, he is the stable help of the de la Vega's told us. You mean, it isn't true Toronado found him?" The corporal had been quite sure his information was correct and was astonished Zorro did not know.
"It very well can be. I was not riding yesterday evening. Toronado hates spilling blood, as much as I do."
"Manuel told the alcalde, Toronado brought the sergeant to the de la Vega hacienda. They are taking care of him now. He was shot in his leg, and doctor Hernandez has managed to get the bullet out. All we can do now is wait and pray the fever will break and the wound doesn't get infected even more."
Zorro, nodding to the corporal. "I'll hope the sergeant will recover."
"Thank you, Zorro. Hearing that will please the sergeant."
Zorro went on, "Corporal, I have found the stolen horses yesterday late afternoon. I can show you where they are. There hidden about eight miles down the road to Santa Paula."
Corporal Sulpevelda put his helmet back on his head. "I will join you, Zorro. You lead the way." The corporal, as the highest-ranked officer, instructed the other three men to return to the pueblo. To get more men to bring the horses back to the pueblo.
One of the newest lancers was not sure about this. The corporal instructed him to do as ordered anyway. "If I was wrong about Zorro, private, none of us would be standing here today."
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Corporal Sulpevelda did not believe his eyes when he had passed the narrow tunnel, seeing the hidden valley where the horses were held captured. "Zorro, how did you find this place?"
"Call it luck corporal."
"You have run out of luck, Zorro! Corporal, kill him or get killed yourself!" Alcalde de Soto came out from behind one of the trees, pointing one gun at Zorro and another at Sulpevelda.
"You aren't going to interfere with my plan this time, Zorro. When those lancers on their way to the pueblo told me, you found the missing horses. I rode here as fast as I could. Those horses are worth thousands of dollars in the States, you know. In two days, Yankees will come to get them, and all that money will be mine and mine alone.
Sulpevelda, do as I ordered you!" Making a quick move with his head from the corporal to Zorro. "Spare your own life, corporal and kill him."
Zorro was weighing out his options. If he tried to overpower the alcalde, the risk was he would fire the guns, and a bullet hit him or Sulpevelda. A lancer that has just shown great faith in him. Sulpevelda did not try to do anything, and after the previous hour, Zorro didn't believe the Corporal would fight him.
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It happened fast. With more grace than Zorro had ever seen before, Sulpevelda jumped at the alcalde. Startled, the alcalde felt backwards as the guns went off. Two loud bangs echoed between the mountain walls, missing the targets it had been pointed at seconds before.
After this, it did not take long before Zorro and Sulpevelda overpowered the alcalde, gagging him and tying him up.
"Corporal, thank you," Zorro uttered, not quite sure what to think.
"You spared my life and of my comrades so many times, Zorro. I am glad I finally can do something sufficient in return. I told you, the sergeant and most of us lancers tried to help the citizens in our own way. The sergeant has been encouraging us not to fight you for quite some time now."
Shaking hands with Zorro, Sulpevelda asked. "Zorro, did you hear what the alcalde said? He is the one behind all this. The stolen horses, perhaps he has also shot Gomez and..., the sergeant. What are we to do?"
"Corporal, you are the highest-ranked officer in the pueblo, who can give instructions. I guess it is up to you."
"Zorro, I am only a simple corporal. I can not arrest the alcalde. Even if he is the one who has murdered private Gomez and stolen all those horses."
"The alcalde wasn't working on his own. The tracks showed signs of at least four, perhaps five men. Also, I found the remains of a small camp yesterday. It is not like the alcalde to spend the nights here. Be on your guard corporal, who else is behind this can still be hiding in this valley. And there must be another entrance or de Soto could not have sneaked upon us in the way he did."
Both men started to search for things to support this theory. After some time, Zorro and Sulpevelda found the remains of the previously mentioned camp. This time five dead bodies laid next to the remains of a fire on the ground. After a quick look, Zorro got up again. "Poisoned."
Sulpevelda was standing bent over the bodies next to Zorro. "How can you tell?"
"They have eaten these apples. They are from a Manzanilla three, which is highly poisoned. The only place I know them to grow is near the old Martinez hacienda. And that should be just behind that hill over there." Pointing at the hill from which the waterfall came down.
Getting up to take a closer look at the waterfall, Zorro noticed it was possible to get to the other side of the waterfall. There, Zorro and Sulpevelda found the second entrance to the valley. It leads directly to the Martinez hacienda. The house had been built in the early beginning of the pueblo and deserted ever since Luis Ramon had bought it.
Sulpevelda looked around in the empty room that used to be the kitchen. "This is the old Martinez hacienda. Zorro, what is this."
Zorro smiled, for he used something similar to this as a hide-out. This one was much bigger and ending in the valley. It would have been able to spend months unnoticed. " I am not sure, but it is said. That some of the earliest hacienda's built in the territory had hidden escape routes. In case of an Indian attack. I suppose that for at least one hacienda, this turns out to be true. I have never seen one of them before myself, only heard of it."
"Alcalde Ramon used to own this hacienda. You think he had known?"
"I do not know corporal. He might have. And somehow, de Soto found out about it. Wanting to use it for his benefit."
As Zorro and the corporal walked back to the other entrance, Sulpevelda stopped him. "Zorro, what do I have to do now. I have no idea. There is a chance the alcalde is responsible for the death of those five men. He said the money was his and his alone. So, he can be responsible for the death of the five men. And for killing Private Gomez and shooting Sergeant Mendoza. And then there are all those stolen horses he knew about that. He was allying with the Yankees. We can not just let him get away with this. Even as he still is the alcalde."
Zorro needed some time to think, understanding it was difficult for the corporal to decide what to do on his own. "Why don't you go to Don Alejandro? He has been acting alcalde before, and he was a captain in the military. He will know what to do and will help you."
"Si, that is a good idea. I will do that. Thank you, and Zorro. I hope things will change in the pueblo now, and you will no longer be our enemy."
"Corporal, I have never wanted to be your enemy."
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After exiting the hidden valley, Zorro and Sulpevelda and de Soto parted. Sulpevelda, leading the horse that had a tied up alcalde on it behind him, in the direction of the pueblo.
Zorro, in the direction of his hidden cave, as far as he knew, his father was unaware.
Hoping this happening would not bring back some old memories to the old don about his hacienda. That, and probably, lancers would come to the hacienda soon to explain to his father what had happened, asking for his help. So, don Diego needed to be at the hacienda.
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Victoria had gone into the garden, not wanting to rest. Sure she was tired, but her anxiety was greater.
Mendoza was fighting for his life. She still wasn't sure Zorro was unharmed, and then there was don Diego. Who had disappeared in thin air again, since early this morning, nowhere to be found? Why was it every time the slightest hint of trouble was, Diego just vanished?
And why, why was it every time she closed her eyes, he popped up in her head? Felipe had offered to sit by Mendoza and promised to get her when needed. Victoria had accepted, for she needed some fresh air.
Victoria had always loved spending time in this garden. It was well maintained, the most beautiful flowers, the sweetest smells. In the far corner was a comfortable bench with pillows on it, near a rose bush. It would not take long before the rosebuds would start to bloom. Victoria laid herself on the bench looking up, to the blue sky. Almost the same colour as Zorro's eyes. Victoria felt tired. The warmth of the sun was nice, a small fresh breeze, some birds making music in the background. Slowly her eyelids started to fall.
She was dreaming of a man wearing a mask. In her dreams, the mask just vanished. What was left was a man with eyes as blue as the cloudless summer sky and a black moustache. His mouth carried a friendly relaxed smile.
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When Diego entered the guest room Mendoza was, he was surprised to find Felipe alone by the bed. The boy explained that he had offered Victoria to sit by the sergeant so she could rest.
"Yes, Victoria must have been tired. She was the one taking care of the sergeant all night. All I did was sleep. Do you know where my father is? It turns out de Soto is responsible for the horse theft, and he most likely has also had some hand in the murder of private Gomez, shooting the sergeant and murdering at least five other men."
Felipe was signing something.
"Yes, it is hard to believe. It is a long story. The main part for now is, Sulpevelda can arrive at the hacienda any moment to ask for fathers help."
Again Felipe made some gestures.
"Why, well, Sulpevelda is only a corporal. With the alcalde in prison, sergeant Mendoza lay there fighting for his life. The corporal is the highest-ranked officer. It is hard for him to arrest his superior, so I suggested he ask his father, a former acting alcalde for his help."
Felipe did point to the window.
"You believe he is in the garden. I'll go search for him there then. How is the sergeant doing?"
"Not worse… that is something, I suppose." Diego tapped his hand on the shoulder of the young boy. He left the room to search for his father.
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