Chapter 10
Victoria picked up the tray with the breakfast and took it to Don Pedro and Maria in the main tavern room. She couldn't avoid listening to the conversation between father and daughter while she served them.
"Please Father, you can't do that." Maria pleaded. "Diego is a kind man and he has no skill with the sword. If you challenged him, it would be murder."
"Maria, you are my daughter and I can't accept your humiliation in such a way. It was all agreed upon yesterday and the proposal was supposed to be a mere formality to declare openly the joining of our families. And, then he backs out in the last minute."
"But, Don Diego is right. Of course, I was hurt yesterday at the party, but I had time to think about it tonight. We'd never have been happy together. I thought he loved me and I didn't want to disappoint neither Diego nor you. I think it would work out if he loved me enough, but he doesn't. He was nice and charming as long as he was in Monterey, but here in Los Angeles he is so different. I wouldn't say boring, but less charming. Everything here in Los Angeles is so depressing. Such a small pueblo with nothing to do and see. The people are oppressed by their alcalde and are often in a bad mood. I'm happy that I don't have to live here and that we can go home."
"I don't care if you like it here or not. The de la Vegas are the richest family in the territory and we need their money and their relations to save our hacienda. Don Diego will either agree to marry you, or he will die for rejecting your hand. That's my final word."
"I'll accompany you to the hacienda, Father," Maria offered.
"A duel is nothing for a woman. You'll stay here and prepare everything for our departure. As soon as I have finished my business with Don Diego, I'll come back here and we can return to Monterey."
Without showing the impact the conversation had on her, Victoria returned to the kitchen and excused herself to her helpers. She had planned to wait until breakfast was finished before she went to the hacienda, but she had to warn Diego of Don Pedro's plan. Making her wagon ready, she was soon on her way to the de la Vegas.
Z Z Z
Still early in the morning, Diego emerged from his room to join his father for breakfast, when he saw Victoria entering through the main door. Heading towards her to meet her halfway, he swept her in his arms and kissed her tenderly.
"Querida," he exclaimed, surprised, "I hadn't expected you so early. Are you missing me so much?" he teased her, but then he saw her concerned face. "Is something wrong?"
"Diego, I came to warn you. I overheard Don Pedro at breakfast a few minutes ago. He's coming here to challenge you to a duel."
Diego sighed and looked at Victoria. "So, who said yesterday my life couldn't get more complicated? I think we were gravely mistaken."
"I heard him say he wants to kill you if you don't marry his daughter." Victoria started to cry. "I'm sorry Diego, I don't know why I'm so easily in tears lately, but it's just the thought of losing you again. I couldn't bear that. I know you'll beat him easily, but if you do, the alcalde will know you are Zorro and if you don't, Don Pedro will kill you. Either way, I will lose you."
Diego realized that Victoria's nerves were still on edge after all she had been through recently. Trying to calm her, he held her close while she couldn't hold back the tears. "Don't worry, Victoria, I won't let that happen. You won't lose me again, I promise, Querida. Even if I have to kill Don Pedro to keep the secret and there is no other solution."
Concerned, Victoria looked up to him. "You're truly considering that? Is there no other way?"
"I don't know, I need to think about it for a moment. Will you join me for a coffee while I'm having breakfast?"
Victoria nodded, her fears appeased a little by his confident behavior and the safety she felt in his arms.
After he had heard someone enter the hacienda, Alejandro had come looking and was surprised to find Victoria crying in Diego's arms, and Diego comforting her as if she belonged there.
"What's going on here? Victoria, why are you crying?"
"Victoria has just informed me that Don Pedro is on his way here to challenge me to a duel." Diego explained calmly, making sure Victoria had regained her composure and dried her tears with his handkerchief before he released her out of his embrace.
With his arm around her shoulder Diego guided her to the breakfast table where Alejandro had interrupted his breakfast. He had planned to talk with his son about the events of the previous evening, but Victoria's arrival prevented a private conversation.
Astonished, Alejandro noticed the attention Diego suddenly displayed towards Victoria when he arranged her a chair and ordered the servant to bring her another cup. What had happened yesterday? Had Victoria really been in her room sleeping without encountering Diego, or had something happened between them? But why did they keep it a secret?
"Diego, please don't kill him. You haven't killed someone before and I know how you feel about it," Victoria pleaded beside him at the table.
"Diego, you are in no position to kill him. Without any sword skill, you can only hope to survive it. This duel must be circumvented somehow." Alejandro could understand the concern he read in their faces while Diego started on his breakfast.
"Any ideas to prevent the duel are welcome, Father, but not for the reason you think. It's more about saving Don Pedro's life than mine."
Before anything more could be said, Don Pedro was led in by a servant and approached Diego at the table.
"Don Diego, I'm here to demand satisfaction for the way you treated my daughter yesterday. First, you lured her here to Los Angeles and then you dropped her, instead of proposing to her as you led us all to believe."
"Don Pedro, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. Please send Maria my apologies, but marrying her would have been an error that both of us would have soon regretted."
"If you don't marry her as we agreed, you will pay with your blood for the insult, Don Diego, and I won't go home with less, or die in the effort. Even though I'm not a master swordsman, with your deplorable fighting skills you're not the man to keep me from demanding that you honor our agreement."
"As you wish, Don Pedro. I have made up my mind, and I don't intend to marry your daughter. Nothing happened between Maria and me that would require it, except that you agreed to my courtship. You can either accept my regrets concerning your daughter, or I might have to kill you, something I'm not looking forward to." Diego had turned cold.
"Diego, what are you talking about? Don Pedro is right, you're no match for him." Alejandro tried to smooth the conflict. "Don Pedro, can't we settle this as gentlemen? There is no need for anyone to get injured."
"Father, keep out of it!" Diego said in a commanding voice that accepted no contradiction.
"For once your son is right, Don Alejandro," Don Pedro agreed, "I have no quarrel with you, and I would have welcomed the joining of our families, but the insult to my daughter can only be settled by the blood of your son."
"You've made your choice, Don Pedro," Diego said with a slight nod of his head. "I'll meet you in the garden in fifteen minutes."
"In fifteen minutes? Why not now, Don Diego? Are you so afraid of dying that you need time to gather some courage?" Don Pedro sneered.
"I'm not afraid, but I'm starving right now and I don't like to fight on an empty stomach. You're welcome to join me. It might be your last meal, Don Pedro."
He sat down at the table and helped himself heartily to breakfast. Surprised at his son's unusual behavior, Alejandro wanted to say something, but Diego shut his mouth with an intimidating look.
Don Pedro tried not to be intimidated by the confident way Diego was talking about the fight. He had not the slightest doubt about the outcome. The man who sat at the table today was totally different from the caballero who was supposed to become his son-in-law until yesterday. Not knowing what to think of this, he decided rather to wait outside that to listen to his talk any longer. With a short, nod he headed for the garden.
Now that the challenges were made and accepted, Alejandro tried to find a solution to the situation that would probably cost his son's life. Not for the first time, he cursed his son's insufficient sword skills, and he didn't believe for a minute that the self confident behavior Diego displayed was more than an act to intimidate Don Pedro.
"I may have no choice, Victoria. You won't be spared if he starts talking, and I can't have anything happen to you. You know that. It's either his live, or ours." Diego said in a calm voice. "I don't want to kill Maria's father after I backed out of from marrying her, but I see no other way out."
"I understand." Victoria nodded in acceptance though she was swallowing hard on it. "I wish there was another solution to give Don Pedro what he wants without any bloodshed or a magic trick that would get us out of this trap."
Diego started to smile. "Victoria, I think you just gave me the idea how to get out of this situation. I will give Don Pedro what he longs for - my blood! But, only if he can't be persuaded otherwise. We can be glad he didn't bring a company as witnesses."
"Diego, you're not planning to lose the fight on purpose and get injured, or killed by that man?!" Victoria looked worried.
"No, of course not. I only have to convince Don Pedro of it. It's something I never intended to use and that I only studied to be safe from it in the future, but I will use that magic if I have to. Now, we need to get prepared."
"Diego, what are you planning?" Alejandro wanted to know.
"Felipe, will you please fetch my sword from the laboratory and meet me in the garden, and I also need that bottle with the liquid we got from that actor," Diego addressed Felipe who looked surprised when he realized that Diego intended to fight with Zorro's sword. "And, if you see the cook, tell her to brew some more coffee. Then, it'll be ready for me after the fight."
"What sword? Diego, you haven't got a sword!" Alejandro objected, surprised, earning another daunting look from his son, who was too busy with his breakfast to say anything.
"Father, I haven't the time to explain now. But, I need you both to be silent and not say a word if Don Pedro insists on my blood. Can you do that please?"
"Of course, Diego, but I don't understand how you plan to get out of this without being killed,"
Alejandro was puzzled.
A few minutes later, Diego rose from the table, having finished breakfast for the moment.
Joined by Victoria and Alejandro, Diego went to the garden where Felipe was waiting with a sword.
Don Pedro hadn't seen Zorro during his stay and didn't recognize the sword, in contrast to Alejandro, who stared in surprise at the heavy sword with the polished hilt reflecting the morning light that he had seen so often in the hands of another man dressed all in black.
"Diego, you..?" he murmured in shock, looking at Diego and then at Victoria who nodded in confirmation at his unspoken question.
The fight lasted less than two minutes, and before Don Pedro could comprehend what had happened, he was already disarmed with Diego's sword at his heart. He realized that Diego's confidence hadn't been a trick and was now at his mercy, just as Diego had predicted. The fear finally set in, and he looked terrified at the man who was willing to kill him if necessary.
"Don Pedro, I'm willing to spare you if you give me your word as a caballero and a man of honor that you will tell nothing of our encounter today and accept our affairs as settled. To save your pride you can even tell everybody that you have defeated me."
"A most generous offer, Don Diego. And, if I decline?"
"Then, you will die." Diego was unrelenting.
"Then, kill me. I swore I'll have your blood and if I can't, I'll die as a man of honor. Just do it if you're the man for it."
"As you wish, Don Pedro." Diego replied. "Face death as a man and look at my sword. See how it is reflecting in the sun." Slowly, Diego began to move his sword and Don Pedro followed its movements with wide open eyes, full of fear of the death that would come in any moment.