"Mamá?"

"Yes, Antton."

"Are you still going to be there for me when the baby comes?"

"Of course, honey! Mamá will be there for you both!" she laughed, lightly brushing the boy's messy hair.

Antoine had no idea what was funny about what he said, but he hugged his mother, her laughter making his worry go away. There was no better place to be than in the big bed between Mamá and Papá, inside this indestructible fortress of comfort bathing in the morning sun that was entering the bedroom through the window.

"How are you feeling today, Deiña?"

"Good, Jacques, I feel good. I just wish I could walk around and get rid of that upset stomach."

"Papá! Can I help you check Mamá and Ofelia? Can I?" Antoine suddenly said as he jumped out of the bed.

"Ofelia?" he said, raising an eyebrow at the name as he too got out of bed. Deiña laughed again.

"Our Antton is now convinced he's going to have a little sister."

"Yes, and we're going to name her Ofelia! She will be the most beautiful lady of California, just like Mamá!" Antoine beamed, as he clumsily pulled his father's watch out of the drawer.

"Son, you are right about that: your mother is the most beautiful lady of California," Jacques acknowledged, kissing his wife on the lips.

Antoine watched closely as his father, now acting like the doctor, palpated his mother's large belly. After a few nods, he picked up the watch the boy had been holding up, and gently touched his wife's wrist to check the heartbeat. Antoine put his small hand against his mother's forehead.

"No fever this morning, Papá," he declared solemnly.

"Aye, Antoine. So what is the prescription for today?" he asked, as he gently pressed Deiña's neck on both sides.

"Mamá has to stay in bed and drink peppermint tea, and eat the soup I'm going to prepare with Gaspar and Nina! Then she will be strong again, right?"

"With you two watching my every move, how could I not be?" Deiña smiled at her son.

Jacques frowned as he pulled a small glass bottle from the night table. He brought the neck close to his wife's lips.

"Here, magnesia should help your stomach."

Deiña coughed lightly after swallowing, visibly disgusted by the taste. Antoine jumped back in the bed and stroked his mother's cheek lightly to soothe her, just like she always does when he has trouble falling asleep. His tiny fingers then wandered through the long black curls of her hair

"Mamá, you won't stay sick for much longer, right?"

"Everything will be all right, honey, don't worry," she replied.

"I think you will be all right, señor, I wouldn't worry. The wound doesn't seem too serious," the old man said after a close examination.

Antoine had been forced to lie on his back after Bernardo had taken off his uniform coat. The injury Martínez had inflicted on his shoulder was making him feel nauseous, and the only thing that kept him from fainting was his pride, though the stinging shards of pain every time he tried to move were difficult to ignore, as well as one very odd and unexplained presence.

"Bernardo... how on earth did you end up in the middle of my duel?!" Antoine asked with a cringe as he tried to sit up straight while keeping pressure on his bleeding wound.

Bernardo seemed to pause for a moment, and then shook his head. An uneasy silence settled between the three men.

"If I may, señor," the white haired man said after clearing his throat. "I am Don Alejandro de la Vega, and this is my companion Bernardo, though I wonder how you already seem to know him."

"Corporal Antoine Garat Elejalde," Antoine declared. "I, in turn, wonder how I could make a better first impression on my best friend's father. Do you think you could close your eyes and imagine me in a dashing, properly cleaned uniform, as if none of this had ever happened?"

The look on Don Alejandro's face was worth a thousand reales as he went from confusion to disbelief to recognition. Antoine winked at Bernardo when he saw him discreetly grin, but he managed to keep a straight face at the caballero still staring at him.

"You... Diego's... I... " the don muttered, but his train of thought was interrupted by the rapid steps of someone running towards them. Antoine turned his head around, but immediately regretted it as he fought another sudden wave of nausea. The afternoon heat was definitely becoming unbearable in his current condition.

"What... what happened?" the panting newcomer asked.

The soldier recognized Mateo's worried voice as he dropped on his knees next to him, just in time to catch his head before it hit the ground.

"Friends, Mateo..." Antoine said with a smile, unable to make his dizziness go away.

"Yes, we met at the mission. What happened? How...? Who...?"

"A man was dueling with Corporal Garat when we arrived," answered Don Alejandro. "I do not know the reason of their fighting, but this Martínez seemed rather intent on—"

"Martínez?! Are you serious?" Mateo exclaimed.

Antoine chuckled at Mateo's reaction, whose expression turned to worry as he put the back of his hand on his forehead, and stared at the blood dripping from his shoulder.

"He's running a fever."

The soldier could not stop laughing. He was tired, hurt, his legs felt heavy like stone, and the damn sun would just not stop blinding him and making him feel hot.

"I'm fine, señores, see?" Antoine said as he tried to push himself into a sitting position, without success.

"Don't move, idiota," Mateo said as he ripped the soldier's shirt to make bandages.

"All right, Capitán. By the way... Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Someone is following us, or so I hear from our good friend Martínez."

Mateo stopped dead in his track for a moment, an indefinable expression freezing his face. He then resumed his task of bandaging, as Bernardo knelt close by with a canteen.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he finally said while he finished wrapping the shoulder with the white cloth.

"Let's carry him to the cart," Alejandro nodded to Bernardo, who took Antoine's right arm as the old don pulled on the other.

The soldier tried to steady himself on his legs, but the sudden change of position made him lose his balance, and only the strong grip of both men kept him up. Antoine winced from the pain in his shoulder, and as everything became darkness, he finally let himself slip into the comfort of unconsciousness.

A thin smoke seeped through the crumbling walls of the old adobe house. In the center of the main room, there was a hole in the dirt floor, into which large leaves spread on red hot coals were slowly burning, filling the air with their thick scent. A disheveled woman dressed in dirty garments sat close by, slowly breathing in and out, her eyes closed. Her thoughts were wandering here and there, but she could make no sense of them. She patiently waited, knowing full well one could not govern these things on a whim.

As it took a life of its own, the vision started to present more coherent flashes. Young Antoine, crying and screaming. Angry Jacques, his fists tight, biting his lower lip, unable to utter a word. Beautiful Deiña, peacefully lying in a crude casket. Unfathomable Gaspar, watching faithfully over the desperate family, hands resting on the shoulders of his adopted daughter.

The woman frowned, looking for a sign. These images she had seen many times, there must be some hidden meaning behind all of those familiar memories. She inhaled deeply, trying to focus on one of the characters of the scene. Young Antoine, who was now wearing a uniform too large for him, was caressing a lion's mane. The fierce animal simply sat still, its eyes burning with blue flames.

The lion suddenly roared with deafening strength. Antoine, unaffected by this frightening sight, knelt down to pick a sword, but the weapon was too heavy for the little boy, and its tip stayed on the floor. The animal circled around the child in a protective manner, sensing something was wrong, until a grating sound made him turn around.

On the casket, a small fox was intently scratching the wooden cover with both paws. The lion roared again, but the fox ignored the impressive animal and continued its work.

"Mamá?" Antoine said. He tried to walk closer to the body, but the lion blocked the path, showing its fangs with a threatening growl.

"Non, Antoine," Jacques whispered. The doctor walked past child and animal and went to his wife, his face now devoid of any expression. The fox jumped down, and a moment later the man hit the casket with both hands, breaking it into thousands of pieces which slowly flew apart into the room.

The dust and particles floating in the air took forever to settle, and Deiña stood in its midst, dressed in white like an angel sent from heaven. A benevolent smile lit her ashen face, and the same blue flames as those in the lion's eyes were burning inside the myriad of diamonds nested in the necklace, bracelet, and earrings which adorned her frail body. The ghost opened her mouth and whispered inaudible words, and then slowly removed one of her earrings.

The woman having the vision suddenly became self-conscious once more. She extended her arm out to grab the offering from the spirit, but as her fingers brushed against Deiña's skin, an intense, burning sensation overwhelmed her. She yelped from the sudden pain, and the vision gave way to reality. One of the thick leaves had caught on fire and the flame had burned the hand she had lifted in front of her.

Still dizzy from the smoke and the vision, the woman buried the remainder of the leaves and the coals. She then carefully stood up and found her way out of the abandoned house.

Tornado's hoofs spurned the dry, flinty ground with a regular beat, the sound of which had rocked its rider into a trance. The caballero had spent the whole night looking for the alleged bandits whom everyone was talking about at the pueblo. He had found a few clues, but nothing yet that would lead to the identities of these men, or to the location of their hideout. Morning had come, and it was time to head home after a fruitless night search. The sun was already up high and it was not the best of times for Zorro and Tornado to roam around in plain sight.

Diego yawned as he tried to ignore the thoughts that were haunting him more and more often. Since his return from Spain, he had been busy countering every one of Monastario's schemes, while keeping his identity a secret. The lies and deceptions he had to constantly make up were sometimes burdensome, straining even his most clever plans. The young man had to admit that he was glad to have had a short vacation from lying to his father for the past few days, the old man having been traveling to San Obispo with his faithful friend Bernardo for the past week.

The coming of Antoine was also a concern for his activities as Zorro. Diego had no idea yet how he would deal with the situation, especially since his best friend would be reporting to Monastario. The Comandante of Los Angeles was very close to finding undeniable proof of Zorro's identity, especially after the whole story with Don Ignacio and his father's trial. Diego hoped that Antoine would not be the last clue Monastario would obtain to build a solid and irrefutable case against his sworn enemy.

Tornado suddenly neighed and stopped galloping, his nostrils dilating nervously at something only he had detected. Diego blinked his eyes to wash away his tiredness, and wheeled his horse to look around, unsure of what the animal had smelled.

Not too far from his position, some dispersed white smoke was visible, probably coming from a hut nearby. Diego did not think the bandits to be so dumb as to make a fire that would reveal their position, but he decided to check it out anyways, trusting his mount's instinct more than his currently unfocused mind. The man gently spurred Tornado with his heels, and forward he went towards the source of the smoke.

As he approached, Diego realized it was only an abandoned adobe house. Probably some poor people had decided to take up residence in it, as the old mule and the tattered woman standing at its entrance seemed to indicate. Maybe she would know something about those bandits, it was worth asking since he was riding to her anyways.

"Señora," Zorro saluted as he stopped Tornado in front of her. The animal was still feeling nervous, and Diego could now smell the odd scent in the air. Whatever was cooking in that house sounded rather unusual, and made horses very tense.

The woman looked up to him with dreamy eyes. She distractedly brushed her hair aside, and Diego saw that the top of her hand was red and swollen as if it had been burned.

"You are... the fox?" she exclaimed, the sudden focus of her pupils betraying her sharp mind. She did not look disturbed by his peculiar attire.

"I am searching for the bandits that have lately been attacking the farms in the area. Have you seen any of them, or heard of anything that could lead me to their hiding place?"

"Yes, yes! The fox! It makes sense now," the woman chuckled, nodding her head.

Diego suddenly felt uneasy, and Tornado sensed it too. The woman could be thought of as crazy, yet there was something about her that made the caballero wary.

"Señora?"

"The men you are looking for are hiding in Devil's Canyon, if you follow Dagger Flat trail to the north you will find them in the cavern on the east side," she declared as matter-of-fact.

Diego stared at the woman in disbelief.

"They made a mess of the area," she added. "A blind idiot could have followed their tracks."

"I shall take care of them, Señora. Gracias for the information," Zorro finally said, still shocked by the uncanny precision of the facts this strange woman had just given him.

"'Til we meet again, young fox. The lion will be watching over our friend, there's nothing you can do about it," she chuckled, her eyes intently fixed on his.

Diego could not shake off a bad feeling in his guts as he gave rein to Tornado to run back home. This could possibly be an ambush set up by the bandits. What were the odds that on his way home he would randomly meet a person with such handy information?

Trap or no trap, Diego decided that he would have to check out on the bandits. After getting some sleep of course, he could sneak in their lair at night when they would be wandering about, and make an ambush of his own in the canyon.

Still, he was unable to forget the burning intensity of the woman's eyes as he rode back to his hacienda.

Thanks for reading me again! If your eyes came this far in this story, please let me know if I am on the right track for the plot. Am I giving too much details, not enough, is it still a fun read for you? I am trying to dose the information very carefully, to keep you guessing what is going on.I find it particularly fun to do but... Is it working? What's your favorite character so far? Any feedback helps me tremendously in my writing, especially for plot setup. Thanks to all who reviewed so far! Special thanks to IcyWaters and WolfDaughter, your comments made me chuckle and orient my story, seriously ;)

Next: Diego and Antoine... finally meet face to face!