NOTE BY THE ACCOUNT HOLDER: THIS STORY IS NOT MINE!

WRITTEN BY KARLA GREGORY

Chapter Twenty Two

Padre Ramon looked up from his prayers as he heard the church bells strike midnight. As he stood, in his mind's eye he could see a scene that was scarcely an hour old. He had gone down to the cell as Diego had requested and locked the door. But before he left, he had taken one look into the cell. He saw Zorro and Monastario facing each other in the gloom of the torchlight. He watched as Zorro drew his sword and removed his cape. He heard as Zorro said, "There is now no escape for either of us." And he watched as Zorro saluted Monastario with his sword. Padre Ramon had torn himself away and run out of the house and into the street. He knew he would never forget what he had seen as long as he lived.

After that, the padre had walked down the street for a few blocks and had come to a grove of trees where everything was dark and quiet. He knelt to pray. He stayed there the whole hour even though he was tempted time and again to go back to the house. But he would honor Diego's request and stay away. But now, as the church bells chimed, he hurried to Monastario's house and went quickly to the cell window.

Looking in, he was horrified to see two forms lying next to each other as still as death. He could not tell from where he was if either of the two men were alive. He made his decision quickly and ran around to the back of the house carrying his bundle of bandages with him. Soon he had the cell door open and he knelt next to Diego whose face was covered in blood. He placed his hand on Diego's chest to see if he could feel a heartbeat and almost wept as he felt the heart beating, even though it was weak. As he pulled his hand away, he found it was sticky with blood. He turned to Monastario, who was also covered in blood, but he could tell it was over for him. He turned back to Diego and spread out his bundle and began to work.

The next thing Diego knew was when he roused up later to find Padre Ramon binding his wounds. His black shirt had been removed and the legs of his trousers had been slit so that the padre could get to the worst of them. He could see that he had been pulled away from Monastario's body as far as he could be in this cell. He just lay there looking at it. How small Monastario seemed now that he was dead. Then Diego remembered his promise and in a weak voice began to pray for the soul of the man he could have been.

Padre Ramon heard Diego's prayer and found himself filled with love for this young man with the heart of a lion and the soul of a saint.

Diego fainted again when the padre had to lift him up to pass the bandage around his chest. The wound in his side was the most serious, although all of his wounds were horrible. In this fight, Monastario had not been toying with Diego as he had been when he had imprisoned him here. Every stroke was intended to kill and the cuts were deep. The padre had to cut the glove off of Diego's left hand. He did not know how it had gotten injured, but he did not think any permanent damage had been done. It would be a long time before Diego could use it, however. The padre had brought a lot of bandages with him, but he began to fear he had not brought enough. Diego had almost as many holes in him as he had when he first saw him weeks ago. He gently and carefully wiped the blood from Diego's face and saw that the cut that had bled so heavily was at the scalp line. He was thankful.

There were some other small cuts on Diego's face, but none that would leave a scar. This cut would heal and leave the scar hidden underneath Diego's thick hair. Finally, he had done all he could for Diego until he could carry him to the safe house.

Leaving Diego, he went over to Monastario's body. Straightening his limbs and wiping what blood he could from his face, the padre looked down at Diego's adversary.

He spoke. "My young friend over there did not deserve the life you thrust upon him. He had to set aside his own dreams to keep you and others like you from achieving your own malevolent ambitions. The life he should have led will be forever denied to him. Now Zorro goes with him wherever he goes. And when he sees an injustice done, he will always feel compelled to try and set it right. How can he ever hope to marry and have children? They would be in constant danger as he is. So maybe you have also denied him a wife and family. But Diego showed me that he can mourn for you, for he has prayed for your soul. Can I do no less?"

So saying, the padre knelt and prayed over the body of Monastario. Then as he stood, he saw Zorro's cape lying in the corner. He took it and covered the body. Quickly, he picked up the rest of Zorro's costume. When he picked up the sword he looked at it thoughtfully. Then with deliberate strokes he marked a "Z" on the wall above Monastario's body where it would be seen clearly. Then he began the business of getting Diego back up the stairs and out into the cart he had borrowed. He picked the unconscious Diego up in his arms and carried him up the stairs and out of the house. Then he had to come back and get the rest of the things. As he left, he looked over the cell one last time, seeing the black shrouded figure near the wall with the "Z" illuminated by the torch light. He gave brief thought on his way out to the guards, but not for long. He knew that Zorro had only knocked them out and tied them up. The morning guard change would find and release them. Besides, he needed to get Diego home as soon as possible.

It was a miracle that no one stopped him before he got Diego into the house. Tending to all the wounds again with fresh bandages took several hours. He managed to get Diego to come to long enough to get him to drink some wine laced with the medicine to keep down the fever, but he lapsed back into unconsciousness immediately. The sky was becoming grey with the dawn when Padre Ramon felt that he had done all that he could and he collapsed on his own bed next to Diego's and fell into an exhausted sleep.

In the morning, Escobar returned to find Monastario's household in an uproar. He asked what had happened and was told that all of the guards had been found tied up throughout the house by the morning guard change. The door to the cell below had been found open and two guards were found tied up nearby. Then Escobar heard the most chilling news of all. Monastario had been killed in what must have been a terrible sword fight. Escobar felt his heart racing.

"Zorro is dead," he thought, "but this seems just like the sort of thing he would do. The guards were not responsible for the torture of de la Vega, so they were merely gotten out of the way. And who else could take out a whole set of guards in the night like that unless it was Zorro? Then to find Monastario dead after a sword fight? It could only be Zorro! But wait, he would examine the scene himself and see.

He made his way down the stairs into the cell. Several torches had been set up to illuminate the cell. He had not been down here since before de la Vega's escape. What he saw amazed him. There was blood splattered everywhere and most of it was fresh. He saw the guards covering Monastario's body with a black silk cape. Fear gripped Escobar again. Zorro always wore such a cape! The guard was pointing to the wall and speculating about the meaning of the letter scratched there. But Escobar knew. It was the mark of Zorro! He was still alive and had come here to exact his terrible vengeance upon Monastario!

Escobar's heart failed him at that moment and he fell dead just a few feet from Monastario never knowing how wrong he had been.

Zorro had not taken revenge upon Monastario, Diego de la Vega had only brought him to justice.