Today
Toronado rolled over and sat on his hind quarters. Blood was oozing from the gunshot wound in his chest, but the injury was not too serious: the musket ball had passed through his powerful pectoral muscles, coming out on the other side without damaging the lungs. The mighty horse pulled himself up with a violent fast move, and stood in the plaza puffing and snorting. Despite the pain, he stumped on the ground fiercely, creating a small cloud of dust around him. He was furious and angry, showing the white of his eyes while searching for his aggressor, intent on retaliation.
Melting under the blazing sun, Zorro sat up on the ground, with his unsheathed shiny sword reflecting the sun's rays. He blinked several times trying to clear his blurred vision. He was dehydrated, and also felt dizzy after hitting his head in the hard, dry soil. At least, it was a great relief to see the black stallion back on his feet, looking so defiant.
Victoria, frantic, stepped out of the tavern determined to help Zorro, but the soldiers were getting closer surrounding him, and she could not get through.
"Zorro! Watch out!" she shouted, waiving her uninjured hand.
Zorro was greatly outnumbered. He stood up slowly and unsteadily, with the intention to fight, but he felt quite hopeless. He could not see how to get away this time.
Luckily, Toronado came to assist his injured master. He cantered around him, pushing the soldiers out of the way, kicking and bolting like a wild horse. Scared of that crazy black fury, the lancers cowardly backed away from Zorro.
In the confusion, Ramón took a chance and reached for the small chest. Toronado immediately recognized the alcalde as the man who had shot him. Enraged, the horse charged with his ears pointing back, flat on his head, and bit Ramón's right arm viciously. He dragged the alcalde a few meters across the plaza, away from the chest. Then, with a powerful shake of his head, he sent him flying into the fountain, where Ramón landed with a big splash. Toronado came back quickly; grabbed one of the small trunk's handles with his teeth; stood close to his master, who climbed up to the saddle with some difficulty; and then galloped away as fast as he could, back to the Hacienda de la Vega.
ZZZ
"Slow down, my friend. You can't drink so much water at once, because the last thing you need now is to suffer from colic," Zorro said, pushing Toronado away from the drinking trough.
The poor horse was desperate to drink gallons, and he complained with a few snorts while shaking his head. However, he trusted his master, and he waited patiently until he'd be allowed to reach the fresh water again. Zorro had a quick glance at the stallion's wounds, and he was relieved because they didn't look too bad.
"Felipe, help me to untack him. We have to cool him down."
Once that Felipe got the saddle off, they threw buckets of cold water all over the horse. His black coat was so hot that some of the water evaporated immediately, creating misty fumes that came out of him swirling in the hot air, with an audible sizzle.
"We may be suffering from heat stroke, Felipe. I don't feel well at all," Diego said while removing Zorro's hat and mask. He pulled the alcalde's document from under his shirt and left it safely on the table, before throwing a bucket of water over himself. His head was throbbing now with the heat exhaustion and dehydration. Despite feeling slightly nauseous, he drank some water in small sips.
"We need to drink small amounts quite often. Please, don't let Toronado drink a whole bucket at once, and keep cooling him down. And me, too," he instructed, lying down on the cold floor. At least, down in the cave, the temperature was a few degrees lower than outside.
"Can you clean his wounds too, please? He should be fine; it is a flesh wound through the muscles, and the ball is out."
Diego had to close his eyes for a moment, because the ceiling was spinning too fast. Startled, he opened them again when Felipe, following orders, threw another bucket of water to his face. Chocking and coughing, he spat some water to his side. He wanted to complain, but, when he saw Felipe's anxious expression, Diego had to smile.
"Thanks, I guess..."
ZZZ
Luis Ramón was on a bad shape that evening. The left side of his face around his jaw was purple and swollen, but the worst damage was on his arm. It had acquired a dark, black tinge where the crazy vindictive horse had bitten it, and he could still see the teeth marks denting on the flesh. While Toronado dragged him away across the plaza, and just seconds before he landed on the fountain, the alcalde had thought for a moment the horse was going to tear his arm out.
He revised the pile of papers, fearing which one would be the missing item. His suspicions were correct: the forged deed for the San Bernardino land was missing. Impulsively, he stumped his fist on the desk. The force of that hard blow travelled up his arm, exploding in the damaged area above the elbow, and he screamed in pain and frustration.
"MENDOZAAAAAA!" he called. After a while, the sergeant came into the office. His broken nose was not bleeding anymore, but the whole area was swollen with a black haematoma which extended under his eyes. His nose resembled a small aubergine.
"Sí, mi Alcalde?" Mendoza said with an aberrant, nasal voice.
"It is your fault all this is happening! If you weren't so incompetent… so unable to carry out the most simple of tasks… then I would not have felt the compelling need to come across the street to get you, and Zorro would have never been able to break into my office!"
Mendoza blinked, surprised. He was used to be the scapegoat of the alcalde's tantrums, but this one was huge. Ramón was out of his mind, completely irrational. In his fury, his face was red and his green eyes bulged like about to pop out.
"It is your fault that crazy horse nearly pulled my arm out! I didn't have the time to aim correctly and kill him because I stumbled on you at the door!"
"But… mi alcalde… that's not fair," Mendoza said, gulping. "Zorro has got into your office many times before, when you were there, and you've never been able to stop him…" he babbled with his odd nasal voice.
"Shut up!" the alcalde shouted. But the sergeant was stating the obvious: he could not have stopped Zorro, no matter what. Zorro always got away. And this time, he'd got away with the document and the chest.
ZZZZZ
***Author's notes***
Did you really think I was going to kill Toronado? Nooooo, never! :D
I have been checking the stats in ff and I have readers from all over the world. Where are you hiding? Why don't you review? If you have the time, it would be nice hearing from you in a review or PM, even if you do this years after the story first got posted. You can't realize how needy writers are about reviews until you become one!
I have been posting one chapter daily so far, but now real life will get me again, and still have to finish the story, so I don't know when I'll post again. Sorry. Quite soon, hopefully. I may surprise myself and have it all sorted by tomorrow. ;)