"Strange…" Zorro uttered as he followed the tracks left behind by the attackers. The group had headed north, in an attempt to deceive any possible pursuers, then doubled back and continued east, though avoiding the main road. "They seem to be heading towards the hacienda…"

As soon he realized that, fearing the men were set on attacking his home and loved ones, he encouraged Tornado to hurry, and the stallion started galloping at full speed towards the De la Vega Hacienda.

That sprint only lasted for a few miles, though, until Zorro noticed the rebels had stopped some four miles before reaching the hacienda.

Pulling Tornado short atop a nearby hill which offered him a good view over the group, he dismounted and approached them, hoping he'd find out more about their intentions.

"What should we do with him?" He heard one of the rebels ask their leader as he pointed towards the still-unconscious Commander they had propped against a boulder.

"He's not that badly injured… Should we kill him?" Another man inquired.

"No. There is a plan for him in case the attack fails, and we have clear instructions to follow it." Their leader uttered. "I want two men with me. We'll take him to the De la Vega Hacienda before the Alcalde and the Governor get there. We'll tell the young don that we have found him injured, and brought him to the doctor hoping he might help, then let him face the music for harboring a known traitor. He'll be lucky to escape with his life… Two birds, one stone, Amigos! In the meantime, the rest of you will wait here. Bandage the wounded, eat, do what you must. There will most probably be another battle before the day's end, and I want you all ready."

Aware he had no time to waste, and rather certain he could not take on 40 men by himself to save Emmanuel, Zorro hurried to his stallion and returned to the cave. Once there, he hurriedly changed and, taking the fabric Felipe had left for him, mounted Esperanza, and made his way to the front door. Entering and not finding anyone, he covered the couch in the library with a blanket, then headed towards the kitchen to find out if any of his family members were still at home.

"No, Don Diego. Doña Maria left half an hour ago to go to the pueblo, Don Felipe is away since this morning, and everybody else left even earlier." The housekeeper informed him.

"I see. Well…" he uttered, "I was wondering if you might do me a favor… As Marisol has already informed you, Victoria has agreed to marry me…"

"Si, Don Diego! Congratulations, again! It was high time you and Señorita Escalante realized you were made for each other!" The older woman said with a smile.

"I believe so, as well." He said as he carefully placed the fabric on a chair. "But, as I was saying, I need a favor. I have bought Victoria a gift that should be delivered as soon as possible. So, would you, please, take Pablo and a wagon, and deliver this package to her at the tavern right away? And tell her I will be stopping by later. I am rather dusty and would like to freshen up before going to the pueblo." He said in an attempt to make sure neither the servant nor the vaquero usually taking care of the De la Vega horses interfered with his plan.

"You can count on us, Don Diego! Though, if I may say so, I doubt you need do any effort to impress the Señorita. She seems quite taken with you already." Maria said with a chuckle before, taking the package, she hurried towards the back rooms where the exit to the courtyard leading to the stables was situated.

The caballero remained smiling until she disappeared from view, then hurried to the front door to see if the so-called rebels were in sight. Instead of the men he was waiting for, he found there Dulcinea, still saddled and with her ear chipped. After checking on the mare's injury, he again glanced around. Not noticing anyone approaching the hacienda yet, he guided her to the stables, where he unsaddled her and left her some food and water before returning to the house.

About ten minutes later, as he was pacing the library, getting increasingly worried about his friend, the men he was waiting for entered the front courtyard.

"Buenas tardes! May I help you?" He asked at exiting through the main door as they stopped their horses.

"Not us, Señor…" One of the men said while the other two were already dismounting with Emmanuel. "We found this man wounded on our way, and we understand that there is a doctor here."

"Emmanuel?" Diego muttered, faking surprise at seeing his friend and hurrying towards him. "Good God! What happened?"

"We don't know. Can you do anything to save him?"

"I will surely try…" The caballero assured them. "But we must take him to the house…"

The men followed him inside, carrying the Commander and leaving him, as per Diego's instructions, on the couch in the library.

"We should be on our way now, or our patron might get worried!" Their leader said as soon as that was done.

"I see… Señores, thank you! You did a good thing bringing him here!" He replied.

The thugs saluted with mocking smiles they couldn't suppress and hurried to leave.

As soon as they were gone, the caballero locked the door and headed for the library, where he found Emmanuel making an effort to get up.

"Diego, it's a trap!" The injured man said as he saw him. "I must get away from here or you will be in danger."

"I am glad to see you, as well," the De la Vega heir uttered as he headed for the fireplace. "As for this being a trap, I already know. It's why I made sure you wouldn't bloody our couch." He added, indicating towards the blanket before pressing the hidden lever in the mantle. "Can you walk?" He then asked his already-baffled friend.

"With some help… Where are we going?"

Diego smiled as he took the blanket, then supported his friend as he dragged him towards the cave. "Somewhere only a few other people have been so far." He answered.

"The secret cave!" Emmanuel stated as they found themselves in the corridor behind the sliding panel. "You mentioned having found one…"

"Yes… It's currently my secret refuge…" The tall caballero informed him at reaching the main room.

"Who's that?" His friend inquired as he glanced admiringly towards the black stallion watching them from his stable.

"That is Tornado. The smartest, and fastest horse in California." Diego made the introductions.

"Tornado? As in El Zorro's stallion?" Emmanuel wondered as they got to the chair and he was forced to sit down. Glancing around, his eyes rested on the sword he recognized as having once belonged to Sir Edmund, then on the black clothes right next to it. "I had a feeling it might be you… But didn't you once say fighting is always the last resort?"

"I still believe and live by that idea. Yet, when I returned home from Spain, I found Los Angeles in the hands of a tyrant willing and able to harm anyone who tried to oppose him. Victoria, whom I am to soon marry, was arrested just a day after my arrival. And my father was also thrown in prison when he tried to defend her."

"So you became an outlaw because of love?"

"I never thought of it that way, but, I suppose it's not a wrong way to put it. After all, I did what I did to protect the people I love, though I also found my calling when putting on that mask."

"Protect the innocents and fight tyranny. Quite a calling! I'm sure Sir Edmund would have been proud of you..."

"I think he was... He died knowing... He saw me fight the lancers after he was shot. I'm only sorry I couldn't do anything to prevent his death."

Dos Santos smiled sadly, then flinched as his friend started cleaning his injury. "You can't save everyone, Diego. You're a good man, but I am quite certain that those stories claiming Zorro is some sort of immortal god of justice – able to return from the dead with armies of ghosts at his beck and call – are exaggerated."

"Well... You never know... You might leave Los Angeles a believer yourself..." The tall caballero replied with a mischievous smile as he continued his work. "Emmanuel," he then muttered, "how is it you are now in the service of the Mexican Governor of California? According to your last letter from over a year ago, you were still a Spanish soldier."

"That is a long story, Diego."

"You will tell it to me later, then. Right now, I need to get that bullet out."

"Out? Can't you leave it where it is?"

"I could, but it's a bit too close to your artery for my comfort, and, if it gets dislodged, perhaps as a consequence of a shock or a hit, it could cause troubles in the future. But don't worry!" Diego told him as he took out a bottle of ether. "You won't feel a thing."

"No... That's alright..." Emmanuel said, guessing what his friend meant. "I'd rather be conscious. Besides, last time I was shot and a doctor used ether on me, I ended up with a rash all over my body."

"I see... Shall I offer you some tequila in that case? It will hurt..."

"Why not?" Emmanuel agreed, and the caballero hurried to bring him the bottle he normally used as a replacement in case he ran out of alcohol.

The Commander took a shot, then watched as Diego started to carefully poke inside his injury. At some point he moaned and closed his eyes, unable to say a word and doing his best effort not to scream. That particular type of torture didn't last long, however, as his friend found the bullet quite quickly.

"This is the third... The third bullet someone has taken out of me. Two more I still have inside. Some doctors think it's safer to just leave them." Dos Santos muttered at seeing the small projectile.

"In some cases, it is," Diego said as he shook his head.

"What? How many times have you been shot?" Emmanuel inquired.

"Well... That is a rather complicated answer, I'm afraid. Let's just say I have three bullet scars, though two were superficial and I only needed one bullet taken out. My father took about ten minutes to find it."

"So he knows you are Zorro…"

"My father? No. Not yet, at least."

"Then?"

"For all he knows, he was helping a mysterious outlaw, and he never once tried to find out who was behind that mask."

"I see... It must be hard, though. Hiding from him? How did you manage that?"

"Mainly by pretending I am studious, clumsy, and the exact opposite of Zorro."

"I see..." Emmanuel said, with an embarrassed smile, inwardly hoping he hadn't clued in Don Alejandro about his son's other activities during their discussion that very morning.

"So... Why don't you tell me how you got to California while I suture and bandage this wound? And why didn't you write to tell me you were here?" Diego inquired, hoping to distract his friend from the pain he was about to inflict on him.

"Ah... I was sent to New Spain after the latest war with France ended." Emmanuel remembered. "By then, I must confess, I was pretty fed up with taking orders from men who only care about personal glory. So, when I was ordered to lead a battalion due to level a whole village, killing about two hundred innocents because some of them had dared help several injured rebels, I decided I had had enough. The night before the attack was due to take place I headed for the village and warned the people there, helping them escape. My own men captured me a few days later, and I would have been executed if Governor Argüello – he was General Argüello at that point, of course – had not chosen the very morning of my execution to attack the prison where I was, in order to free their captured men. When they released me, they offered me to join them, and, seeing how I had nowhere else to go, I agreed. A few days later, I saved the General's life, a feat I managed to repeat a week after that, though at the price of a bullet wound that left me confined to a bed for an entire week. Some two weeks after that, as I was still recovering, he was wounded rather badly during an attack. He still can't properly hold a weapon because of that injury.

"I guess he eventually decided I was his good-luck charm when I once more saved him from an ambush just as he recovered. After I saved his life two more times, and prevented three other ambushes on him and his troops, he named me his second-in-command and made sure I'd be granted the same military rank I had in the Spanish army, as a reward for my services. Then, the independence was won, he was named to his position here, and insisted I'd join him as his Commander of his guards.

"To tell you the truth, though, I mainly accepted because, by then, I was completely smitten with his daughter, and hoped I'd at least have a chance to win her heart. And, of course, there was also the small detail of my best friend being here. I was hoping to surprise you, you know. It's why I didn't write upon my arrival… Alas, things have not turn out exactly as I had planned…"

"They hardly ever do… So… You and the Governor's daughter…"

"Were never meant to be, unfortunately. The day I went to declare my intentions to court her, I found Fernando de la Cruz there, on his knee, asking for her hand in marriage. And she said yes without a second thought." Emmanuel said with disappointment. "I later found out he had also made sure she'd think I was courting his cousin, Ursula."

"Ursula?"

"Ursula de Yero. Charming, beautiful, and rotten to the core… I don't know what it is about that young woman but…"

"She makes you feel very uneasy, like you must always be on the defense when she's around…"

"You know her?"

"Yes... She tried her hand at charming me into courting her about a year ago. She also turned out be her stepbrother's lover and part of some sort of conspiracy."

"A conspiracy?"

"Probably the same that led to today's attack on the Governor. I have suspected for a while now that it is Fernando de la Cruz behind it all…" Diego said, then started recounting for Emmanuel all he had been through during the last few months and the reasons that had led him to his inference, despite not knowing about De la Cruz's relationship with Ursula de Yero.

ZZZ

About an hour later, as he entered the cave through the library, Felipe found his father and his friend still talking, the stranger in a rather bad mood.

"Who is he? What is he doing here?" The younger man hurriedly signed to ask.

"Oh, Felipe! May I introduce to you Emmanuel Dos Santos, my friend from University? He is currently the Governor's Commander of the Guards… and the Deputy Governor's intended scapegoat." He answered.

Felipe stared at him puzzled, so his father hurried to recount for him the events leading to his friend being there.

"And are you certain he's innocent?" The younger man asked as he finished.

"Quite certain. Even if I hadn't heard those rebels spell out their plot, I would have still bet my life that he was not involved in any conspiracy."

"And I very much appreciate your confidence, my friend." Dos Santos said. "Don't worry, Felipe," he added, "I would rather die than betray your father, just like I know he would do for me."

Diego smiled at those words and his son nodded, though the uneasiness he felt at realizing someone else knew who Zorro truly was didn't leave him. Remembering why he had come to the cave in the first place, though, he started signing again.

"Felipe, you needn't pretend with Emmanuel. He already knows you can hear and talk."

His son only looked disconcerted for a few moments. "Grandfather is on his way here with the lancers and what I assume to be the Governor and his men. I saw them coming as I returned from Don Sebastian's Hacienda." He then said.

"They're coming here? Thank you for warning me." Diego replied. "Emmanuel, Felipe and I should return to the house." He then said, "I trust you not to touch anything here. It's full of explosive devices, and I wouldn't want you harmed, nor would I want the noise of an explosion to lead anyone to Zorro's hideout."

"Don't worry, Diego! I will be on my best behavior and do all in my power to ignore that voice in my head shouting that I should seek out that traitorous bastard and kill him with my bare hands." Dos Santos answered with a forced smile.

"Yes… Do that! You need some rest. In the meantime, I will do all in my power to get the Governor to realize who his true enemy is. By the way, I have some rather interesting books here which might be of help in keeping you distracted. You're welcome to them." Saying that, the tall caballero and his son hurried to climb the few stairs leading to the entrance to the library and disappeared behind a corner.

Emmanuel remained watching them leave, then slowly headed for Tornado. "I think I know how you feel, my friend!" He said as he allowed the horse to smell his hand before he dared pet him on the head.