Victoria shivered without her shawl. It had started to warm up, but now it was truly cold again. She sighed. She almost turned back to the cave. She was worried about Diego. He had lost a lot of his natural courage and tenacity, and that was a worry in itself. Where had the stubborn insistence of a hero disappeared to?

She rubbed her arms and kept walking. The wind had a chill to it, and she wished the sun would come out again.

"Help me!" She called out again, cupping her hands. "Someone, anyone help me!"

There was the sound of a horse. Surely not, Victoria thought. Zorro wasn't going to ride up to the rescue today, of all days. She stopped and listened. Definitely a horse.

She stood still and tried to work out where the sound was coming from. "Someone help me!" She called again, and this time the horse seemed to be nearing.

It was Felipe, and she almost wept with joy at seeing him. He raced his horse up to her, and dismounted. He stood almost as tall as her now, and examined her carefully for any injury.

"Diego….he's back there. Please, we need to help him. Please, Felipe…" She said, running out of breath as she hurried to talk. "He's hurt, and he might be ill."

Felipe nodded, and gestured for her to get on the horse. She did so, and pointed the way for the teenager. His face was stern and his eyes worried, but he seemed in control of himself and the horse, in a way that Diego would be very proud.

He reined in near the red shawl, and she slipped off the back of the horse quickly. Felipe quickly skittered down the rocks. His eyes carefully made out where Diego was, and noticing that Diego was sleeping, Felipe felt the need to shake him awake.

"Go away," Diego murmured, sleepily as he opened his eyes. "Oh, Felipe!"

Felipe helped him to his feet, and glanced up at the rocks ahead of them.

Diego followed his eyes and sighed. "I can't…"

Felipe shook his head, and got a better hold of him. Victoria came down and took Diego's other side.

"You can, Diego. We're here to help. Stop being stubborn and try," Victoria said crossly. "If it was me you'd already have me back at the hacienda by now."

He smiled wearily at that, and nodded. "I must admit that's true," he said. "But it's a little easier when I can carry you."

Felipe and Victoria found it easy enough to help Diego up the rocks, when he finally decided to participate. Resting on a rock at the top of the climb, Diego sighed with relief. He had been thoroughly sick of the way he had felt completely trapped.

Felipe found enough kindling to make a fire to warm them, and mounted up again. He turned the horse back the way he had obviously come, and galloped away.

"He's going to get my father. He knows exactly where he is," Diego said softly, at Victoria's raised eyebrow. "We'll be rescued in a few moments, or however long it takes."

Victoria sighed, and snuggled against him. "Do you know how bad it felt to leave you behind like that?"

"Victoria, if you didn't we would still be down there, with everyone no doubt looking in the wrong place for us."

"I'll get the blanket."

"Be careful," Diego cautioned her nervously.

She went down to the cave and returned without accident, so he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her again.

She wrapped him in the blanket, and snuggled back under it with him. They watched the fire for a while, and Diego began to doze again. Victoria positioned his head on her lap again, and gently stroked his hair once again. It seemed to make him relax more and sleep deeply.

Zzz

Alejandro had entered the cave and had glanced around with anxious eyes. He didn't want to see his son dead, but it had always been a possibility. There were scuffed tracks in the dust, leading from a crushed table towards other passages. He wandered back out to the sunlight, wanting a lantern or a torch.

"Patron, Felipe is here. I can't make out the hand signs, but he's very excited about something," a workman said, catching Alejandro's arm.

Alejandro glanced up as Felipe raced to him. He was breathless with excitement, and when Alejandro calmed him down, Felipe was able to explain more clearly.

"Diego and Victoria are alive. They're up a little higher on the rise, not far from here," Alejandro translated. "We'll need the buggy or a cart." Alejandro hugged Felipe to him.

"Good job, Felipe. What a clever boy you are!" Felipe flushed with all the praise, and wanted to hide as soon as possible.

Zzz

Diego was still asleep on Victoria's lap when Alejandro raced towards them on Dulcinea. He dismounted, and rushed over to his son.

"How is he?" He whispered.

Diego stirred and roused himself so quickly, that Alejandro wasn't sure if he had just been resting his eyes or truly asleep.

"My ankle is in agony."

"And his shoulder is inflamed….Paonessa shot him in the arm, Don Alejandro," Victoria added carefully. "His forehead is a little too warm, senor."

"Victoria is just fussing," Diego said with irritation. Alejandro helped his son up and onto a rock, to sit up a little more.

Diego subjected himself to a father's worried examination. Alejandro felt for broken bones, and bruising, and finally lifted a hand to gauge for fever. It was a little too warm for his liking, but not a raging fever. An elevated temperature that needed watching, but nothing overly dramatic.

"You look a mess, Diego," Alejandro said sternly. "Where is your own shirt? Look at yourself."

Diego glanced down, and was startled that the suit of blue seemed grey under so much dust. He chuckled a little.

"It is hard to be presentable during an avalanche, Father."

Alejandro frowned at him a little, and Diego waited for more frustrated words. Their eyes met, and Diego sighed. His father's eyes were worried beyond words, and he didn't mean to be angry. So much worry and concern had spilled over into anger yet again.

"I'm sorry, Father."

"You didn't have to see to it personally."

"Didn't I?" Diego flared a little himself. "The alcalde and Destara did such a wonderful job at rescuing me and Victoria. The ladies would have been killed, if I had done nothing."

Alejandro turned a little.

"You understand nothing at all," Diego said angrily. "I have to see to things personally, because if I didn't many people would be killed, injured, or impoverished beyond breaking point. I can't not help people – everyone is so blind to everyone else's troubles and pain, and so unwilling to help anyone."

"That's not true and you know that, Diego."

Felipe and Juan brought the cart along the track, and the men glanced at it, happy for the interruption. Diego let them help him into the cart, and he lay down with his foot elevated on Victoria's lap. She placed it there with a laugh, and remarked about how large his feet were.

Felipe sat near his head, and began to sign about all the things that had gone on in the pueblo in his absence.

"I've only been gone two days if that, Felipe." He chuckled, but continued to watch Felipe talk. His gaze grew thoughtful, and wandered over to his father with curiosity. His father was talking to Juan about something Diego couldn't hear, but he felt eyes watching him and he turned.

Alejandro watched Diego's face, and glanced at Felipe's intense signing. Something was bothering Diego, something to do with the news Felipe was telling him. He sighed. They were going to have words. That was good in a way. Diego had been a perfect son in many ways as far as behaviour went, but a little too much perfection was bad for fathers and sons. Sons argued with their fathers, and fathers with their sons. That was the way of the world.