It was already noon. Diego and Mya had been riding towards Povuu'nga, the village where the indigenous Tongva people of the area - or Gabrielenos, as the Spanish called them - believed their world and their lives had begun.
Mya was, as she had told Diego, truly interested in seeing the settlement situated a little over twenty miles from Los Angeles, but she didn't really intend to go there that day. All she wanted was some time alone with the caballero, as far away from probing eyes as possible.
It was a long ride and Diego knew it would take the entire day. What he did question, however, was the welcome they were going to get once there. He had visited Povuu'nga before, even befriended some of the natives. But he knew they did not take kindly to visitors, even those brought by a friend. Yet, when he had agreed to escort her that morning, he expected that the visit was but a pretext. So, now he was confused and increasingly worried by the minute.
As for Felipe, the young man had watched his father head into town, then told Don Alejandro he'd be fishing most of the day, and, with that excuse to justify his absence, he caught up with Diego and Mya a little west of the pueblo. From there, he started following the two, making sure to remain hidden, some five hundred feet behind, careful that nobody - Diego included - would notice he was there.
"We should take a break to rest the horses!" Mya indicated about two-and-a-half hours into their ride, as they neared a stream.
Diego agreed, gallantly offering her his hand to dismount. She took it but, instead of using it as intended, she used it in order to pull him towards her and descend from the horse straight into his arms, laying a passionate kiss on his lips. The caballero was so surprised by her move that he froze for a few seconds, yet never responded to that kiss. Mya retreated, and looked at him with some confusion when she didn't feel an immediate response from him. Is he playing hard to get? She wondered.
Diego just looked at her flabbergasted.
"Mya, what are you doing?" He asked in a calm, yet somehow intimidating tone, that was more reminiscent of Zorro than of Diego.
"Oh, please, Diego! I know you want me. No man spends as much time with a woman as you have spent with me, without wanting something in return. Luckily for you, I am not the kind of woman to oppose the charms of the opposite gender" She told him seductively. "We are all alone here… we can use the blankets under the saddles…"
"I'm afraid you are confused, Senora del Rioblanco!" Diego replied, taking a step back, appalled by her proposition, which went against everything he had been brought up to be. "I am not that kind of a man."
"I will show you things no other woman alive knows! I will give you pleasure beyond your wildest dreams!" She went on promising as she reached to kiss his neck.
Diego was quite uncomfortable with the situation, considering he was completely unprepared for it. The woman had come to Los Angeles to capture Zorro. He was Zorro. He had also developed a friendship with her, but she had clearly misread his intentions. Or perhaps he had given her reasons to interpret them the way she did. He was a bachelor, wealthy, handsome (at least he knew women saw him that way) and, as far as anyone thought, completely without attachments. He was, also, still just a man, and not completely immune to the charms of a seductress clearly set on making love to him.
Yet his heart belonged to Victoria, and so, he reasoned, did his body.
For a few moments, he remained frozen in place, his eyes closed as she reached to kiss his collarbone, and to open his shirt. He had often imagined Victoria doing that in the recent years. Mya placed soft kisses on his chest as she opened each new button, then ripped the last few buttons apart, eager to run her fingers on the contours of his muscles.
It was only then that Diego regained his senses and, as if just realizing what was happening, he shackled her hands.
"No!" He said as he took one more step back, then released her to turn around, starting to button his shirt back. "You are beautiful… and very intelligent… and if things were different… if circumstances were different… But I can't. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression! But this cannot happen!"
She smiled, convinced he just needed more encouragement. Mya knew that men raised with a certain type of education had a good command of themselves, and did not easily give into their urges. So, as he was talking, she took off her riding suit, and stood naked, waiting for him to turn around.
When Diego tried to face her again, he caught one glimpse of the naked Mya, and rapidly turned his back to her again. "Please put your clothes back on!" He asked, this time hesitantly.
Felipe, who had taken position on a nearby hill in order to see what they were doing, had meanwhile turned red. Even though he tried, he found it impossible to stop staring at them wide-eyed and open-mouthed, waiting to see what his father would do, and inwardly praying he would be able to resist her. For all their sakes!
The caballero was not turning around, patiently waiting for Mya to get dressed. So she decided to make one more attempt, and pressed her naked body against his back, enveloping him in her arms, as her hands reached for his pants. She smiled as she sensed his obvious physical response to her new attempt.
Using all of his willpower to get himself free, Diego took a few steps away from her, hoping she would finally get the message. He didn't want to either anger or humiliate her, but he simply couldn't cheat on the woman he loved.
It was not enough, though. Now convinced he was only pretending not to want her so that he might have the upper hand in whatever sort of relationship he imagined they might have from then on, Mya stepped in front of him, and used a combat move he had never before seen to suddenly throw him on his back. As soon as he was down, she saddled him, kissing his chest as she restarted to unbutton his shirt, and moving down as her hands again reached for his pants.
After a few moments of deep confusion at what had just happened, Diego begun struggling to get away from her, suddenly afraid he might be unable and, soon enough, unwilling to do anything to stop her. Since he was incapable of hitting a woman, with his brain partly fried by the sensations she was stirring inside of him, he did the only thing he could think of at that point: he whistled. At hearing his command, his mare reared, accidentally hitting Mya, and leaving her unconscious.
Finally freed, he hurriedly covered her with a blanket and checked on her, noticing some blood on the back of her head, but failing to find any injury, since the wound had already healed. When he was certain that she was fine, just knocked unconscious, still questioning the source of the blood, Diego tried to wake her up but she didn't move. Looking around, he took his handkerchief and submerged it into the cold water of the nearby stream, hoping the coldness might have the desired effect. Not getting it, he decided Mya needed a doctor and transportation back to Los Angeles. The horses, however, wouldn't do, and he needed to also address how to get her dressed again. More so, he couldn't just leave her alone.
For the second time in ten minutes, he buttoned his shirt back up, tucking it into his pants, in an effort to regain a sense of decency. Realizing how the entire situation might seem to others, the caballero looked around, trying to decide how to proceed. It was then when he noticed Felipe.
Mounting his horse, he headed for him, embarrassed, for the first time in his life, to face the younger man.
"What are you doing here?" He asked his son when he reached him.
Felipe gestured his reply.
"You wanted to make sure I'd be safe?" Diego interpreted his signs with a mixture of relief, puzzlement and amusement in his voice. "You though I am vulnerable because she is a woman?" He continued. "Well… that wasn't a too-far-fetched guess." Diego agreed, smiling at his son.
*What happened?* Felipe gestured the question.
His father did not perceive the anger in his gestures.
"Apparently she had a different kind of attack in mind than the one I was prepared for. I didn't see that coming!" The tall caballero told him, still rather shaken by the recent events.
*What are you going to do now?* Felipe inquired next.
"I don't really know." He admitted. "Firstly, I need to make sure she is alright. Then… I guess it much depends on what she's going to do!"
*What do you mean?*
"Well… it certainly doesn't look good for me! A naked, unconscious woman, known to have accompanied me to a remote Indian village... She might press charges, as revenge for my refusal to give into her… advances. She could say I attacked her." He replied, sounding quite preoccupied. Such charges were hard to refute and their consequences would destroy much if not all he had accomplished during so many years fighting against tyranny. Not to mention it would also cost him Victoria's love and his own future. "What was I thinking agreeing to accompany her?" Diego proceeded to chide himself.
*Why didn't you…* The younger man tried to ask, but stopped mid-sentence.
"You know why!" Diego replied somehow angered by the question. "I'm in love with Victoria and a caballero doesn't cheat on the woman he loves! Have you been watching us the entire time?"
Felipe suddenly became interested in the grass growing at his feet, and the redness returned to his face.
"I'm guess I should be glad for more than one reason that I haven't… done anything. That's certainly not something I would have wanted you to see!" Diego uttered as he folded his arms across his chest. "Now… any idea regarding what I should do?"
Felipe pointed towards himself, then to his eyes, then to his father, then to Mya, still lying on the ground, about a hundred feet away from them.
"I doubt anyone would believe you if you'd try to defend me. You're my son, Felipe! People would just assume you are lying for me. If she presses charges…"
Felipe smiled back, and Diego looked at him puzzled. *I doubt anyone would believe her!*
"Why wouldn't they? I'm… me... and she's a woman."
*Exactly!* The younger man signed. *You're you: Diego de la Vega, a man of peace, non-aggressive, a poet and a journalist. She's the woman who humiliated the Alcalde easier and more successfully than Zorro has ever managed to! It would be clear to everyone that you're the victim, not her!*
"Not an image I'd like to perpetuate, though!" Diego replied with a sigh, then smiled, realizing his son was right. "Did you see how she took me down? I'm twice her size!" He asked, admiration in his voice. "That's one… special woman!" He concluded.
"I'll go get Victoria to help with dressing her, and Doctor Hernandez to have a look at her wound. You need to stay here, and make sure she is safe until we're back! If she wakes up, tell her… What am I saying? She doesn't understand your signs… Just make sure she stays put. Having her injured was certainly not one of my proudest moments, and I wouldn't want anything worse to happen to her. But… Felipe… try to keep your distance, alright?"
His son nodded, looking at Diego with innocent eyes. Moments later, his adoptive father was stirring Esmeralda into a gallop towards Los Angeles.
All the way there, he wondered how to explain everything to the woman he loved, and if she would believe him or hate him forever. She was the one woman he trusted to help him, though, and hoped she had a high enough opinion of his character as to not doubt his honor.
He arrived at the tavern during the siesta, and knocked on the closed door, but nobody answered. He didn't insist too much, unwilling to attract the attention of the sleepy lancer guarding the cuartel.
Realizing he couldn't count on the woman he loved, he considered his options, and headed for Doctor Hernandez's office. If anyone was qualified to both check on an injured woman and dress her, it was the doctor who had faithfully served the pueblo for over thirty years. Thus, with the promise to explain on the way, he asked the old man to accompany him in his wagon.
ZHZHZHZHZ
Doctor Hernandez listened to his story and remained pensive.
"She really took you down?" The old man eventually uttered.
"Yes. I know it's hard to believe but you know me. I know how it looks but it's the truth. I've never seen such a move. No wonder she defeated the Alcalde so easily. The woman is a very-well-trained fighter."
"So… you think… Do you think she might be able to overpower… Zorro?"
Diego hesitated for a few moments at hearing the question. "She might," he eventually answered. "Unless the injury she suffered… I hope she'll be alright, though."
"I do, too, Diego. I understand it was an accident that she got hit but I know you feel responsible, son, and I know you. However, if she proves to be fine, Zorro might do well to stay away from her!" The doctor concluded. "You really didn't find any injury?"
"None. There was blood on the back of her head but I was unable to find its source. It's why I came for you. That and the fact that I was unable to help her regain her senses. I was lucky that Felipe followed us. I didn't want to move her in that state and the only alternative would have been to dress her myself and ride back with her."
"It's usually better not to move patients with unidentified injuries. Look… I hope she is alright, but I also hope this incident might get us rid of her… And that you finally realize you've not been so clever in your behavior towards the woman. If you want to get her to leave, you can't let her think you are trying to seduce her!"
"Wh… What makes you think I was trying to get rid of her?"
"Diego… Please don't insult my intelligence. I've known you since you and your parents came here. You may be able to deceive everyone else in this pueblo, but don't believe for one second you can deceive me!"
"Deceive…"
The doctor stopped the wagon and, after a quick glance around to make sure there was no one for miles who could overhear them, he looked Diego straight in the eyes. "You've made everyone believe you are weak-willed and cowardly, but you are Zorro."
Several emotions crossed the face of the caballero at the doctor's words, from surprise to dread, to indecision.
"Don't fret, Diego!" The doctor continued. "I've treated you since you were a child. I know you, and I've suspected Zorro's identity ever since he showed up, a few days after your return form Madrid. Although, I admit, I was only sure when you had that nasty fall down the canyon, some seven or eight years ago! Or did you actually think that I'd be unable to put two and two together, and realize that it would have been too much of a coincidence if you and Zorro had a similar accident, the same exact day?"
"Nobody else reached that conclusion!" Diego replied, wondering if it made any sense to try and convince the doctor he was wrong. He decided against it. "You never said anything." He uttered, pensively.
"Of course, not! I never said anything to anyone, not even to my wife! I would never betray you, son. Just like all the other Los Angelinos, I have too great a debt towards you to ever do so! Nor will I ever be stupid enough to tell anyone that I know the identity of the man behind the mask." Doctor Hernandez continued. "But I do want you to know that you can count on my help whenever you'll need it. I've wanted to tell you this for a long time, but there never seemed to be an appropriate moment before."