Chapter 47 – Confused

Victoria had closed the tavern early, sending all her costumers away, and now she was trying to sort out the mess. She looked around, shaking her head while evaluating the damage and how much time and money she would have to spend to have everything repaired. She would need help to clear all those bulky pieces of debris, and then get a good carpenter to make a new handrail and fix all the damage to the upper floor. That would take days, and she would have to keep the tavern close in the meantime, at least the lodging area. And the chandelier, how could she forget the heavy chandelier, now lying in the middle of the room!

Mendoza… how could you? First you hit Zorro with your gun, and now you hit my chandelier. Not in a million years you could do that on purpose aiming straight, she thought, amused despite the helplessness she felt.

However, all the repairs would have to wait until the morning at least, because now she wanted to join Don Alejandro in the search for Esteban. She was worried for his safety, but she also felt somehow responsible for the way he had left the tavern on a whim, upset by her sudden change of mind. Although, loving Diego wasn't a "sudden" occurrence. She had always loved him, even if she didn't want to admit it to herself, blinded by Zorro's charisma and Diego's apparent lack of interest.

A man she had never seen before came through the door then. The door she thought she had closed already.

"I am sorry, señor, but we are close. There was an accident earlier on today and the place is not safe," she said, pointing at the fallen chandelier. "You'll have to leave."

"Are you Victoria Escalante?"

"Yes, I am. Why?"

"I know where Esteban de la Vega is."

"Where is he? Is he all right? What happened?" she said, walking closer to that man.

"He is all right, don't worry. He asked for you."

"Did he?"

"Yes. I can take you to him now if you wish. Come on, follow me."

Victoria followed the man to the door, but then she grew suspicious.

"Tell me what happened first. Tell me where he is."

The man turned around to face her.

"Never mind," he said, knocking Victoria unconscious with a sudden blow to her head. "This way will be faster."

Carlos locked the front door then; lifted the petite, limp body over his shoulder; and walked through the kitchen to exit the tavern through the back door.

ZZZ

"Victoria, open the door, please. It's me, Alejandro."

He kept banging on the door, but nobody answered. In the meantime, Felipe wandered off to the back of the tavern. Soon, he opened the front door from the inside.

"She is not here," he signed. "The tavern is empty."

"How did you get in?" the old don asked, stepping inside. A quick look was enough to confirm the youngster's words. Felipe was right: the tavern was empty. "Where could she be? Victoria!" he tried one more time, just in case.

Felipe could not wait any longer. He had to go to San Bernardino, so he made some excuses and left quickly before Don Alejandro could ask him any questions.

ZZZ

"The alcalde said Diego de la Vega left this morning for Monterey to get some medicines for the doctor. We'll deal with him later," Carlos said, returning to the damp, dark cellar carrying a large bulk in his arms, which he dropped unceremoniously on the floor. "But he said that scumbag is interested in this."

"Who's that woman?" Alberto said when he saw the bulk's long, dark hair.

"The tavern owner. Apparently, honouring his reputation, he has been quite sweet on her since the moment he arrived here. Using her, he'll tell us what we need much faster than pulling all his teeth."

Carlos laughter echoed then in the small, enclosed space, waking up the bulk.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" Victoria said, sitting up, taking in her surroundings, adjusting her eyes to the dim light of the candles. "Where did you take me?" She looked around and gasped when she saw Esteban's lifeless body hanging from the ropes. "What did you do to him?!"

"Too many questions, woman," Carlos said, grabbing her hands to tie them up. She tried to fight him off, but a single, hard slap on her face, got her still. When he finished bonding her wrists, Carlos used a stick to pass the long rope over another rusty ring in the low ceiling and pulled to position Victoria hanging from her arms in front of Esteban. At least, he had the deference to leave enough rope so she could stand upwith ease, not like him.

"What would anybody use these rings for?" asked the third man, Matías.

"To hang the ham, maybe? I don't know, but they are really useful for this purpose," Carlos said, checking the tension on Victoria's rope. "Now, use the salts. Wake him up again."

Matías placed the small bag containing the ammonia salts under Esteban's nose, and he immediately jerked his neck with a reflex, trying to get away from the strong, irritant smell, but he didn't wake up, so Matías insisted with the bag, holding his head still over it until he did. Esteban came to coughing and crying, with a burning sensation in his nose and throat, having trouble to breathe because it hurt all the way to his lungs.

"Hello again. Ready for another round?" Carlos said, slapping him several times while he coughed, quite gently now, only to wake him up. "Come on, wake up. We got you company!" he said, getting out of the way so he could see Victoria.

"Why her? You, bastards! She doesn't know anything!" Esteban cried, pulling from the ropes in vain one more time. A single punch directed to his already battered liver was enough to subdue him, crushing his spirits into submission, and he stood still then, hanging floppy from the ropes, just staring at Victoria, murmuring "I'm sorry" in a very low voice, which she only understood by reading his lips.

"Leave him alone!" she cried, only to become the unintended focus of attention.

ZZZ

"No, you fool! You got it all wrong!" Felipe signed frantically." She regretted rejecting you, Diego, so she changed her mind and dumped Zorro so she could be with you. She is not in love with Esteban! It's you she chose! You! The real one!"

It had taken him a long time to get to San Bernardino and find that little cottage in the middle of nowhere in the dark, because he had only been there once to deliver the books and some supplies. And now, when he was trying to explain the situation, Diego seemed quite reluctant to accept the news.

"What? I think you are going too fast. I may be misinterpreting your hands. What I think you are saying cannot be."

"She loves YOU, Diego! Not Zorro!"

"She made it clear she didn't want to be with any of my two halves. She said she couldn't carry on with Zorro while she is in love with someone else. And that is not Diego, because she didn't want him on the first place. Please, don't joke about this."

"Do you think I would come all the way here to make a prank about this at this time of night? Think about it, and think hard: she doesn't know who you are under the mask. She thinks she made a mistake, rejecting Diego, so she then rejects Zorro to mend that mistake. And now she can't tell you anything because you are supposed to be on your way to Monterey!"

"She loves… me? For real?" Diego said then, starting to admit that possibility. "Me? Bland and boring Diego me? Are you sure?"

Felipe slapped the back of his head then to get his brain going, suspecting all that Valeriana infusion the doctor had supplied to calm Diego down could have something to do with his fogginess.

"Yes! Wake up!"

"All right, all right, no need to become violent!" Diego said, smiling for the first time that day. "What did you say is wrong with Esteban?"

"He disappeared. When he found out Victoria chose you, he left the tavern in a hurry. His horse came back to the hacienda this evening, but not him. It is the first time he is riding a horse since he has the seizures, and we can't find him. He could have fallen if he had a seizure, but I think Esteban is in real danger this time, because now Victoria has disappeared too."

"What? Both of them? At the same time? Felipe, please, don't play this game. If they have both disappeared, it is obvious they ran away together. As a couple."

"No! She said she wanted you! There is something else going on, I am telling you. I have a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling. Why do you think I am here?"

"I don't know."

"Come on, hurry up! We have no time to lose. I already lost a great deal of time trying to find you," Felipe signed, growing desperate.

"All right. I should get going then, if you really think this is so important," Diego said, finally standing up with determination, ready for action. If Victoria was also missing he should find out the reason, whatever it was, just in case. "Did you bring Zorro's gear?"

"No. I didn't want to risk it. It is a long way here and someone could spot me with Toronado. Come back to Los Angeles as Diego and go directly to the cave, please."

"You are right, bringing Toronado all the way here was too risky. Good thinking, as usual," Diego said, ruffling Felipe's hair. "Come on, let's go!"

ZZZ

.

"What do you know?" Carlos said, leaning to get face to face with Victoria.

"About what?"

"I told you she doesn't know anything," Esteban said. "Leave her alone!"

"Shut up! Or I'll shut your mouth again!" Carlos said, turning to look at him with his closed fist held high, enough to keep him quiet.

"I don't know what are you talking about," Victoria said.

"Did he tell you what happened in Madrid, at the Duke's?"

"What duke?" Victoria said, looking genuinely puzzled by the whole situation.

"What duke… Don't you love her already, guys?" Carlos said, laughing, echoed by Matías.

"I told you she doesn't…" Esteban started, but Carlos turned again quickly and punched his mouth so hard he nearly lost another tooth.

"No! Bastard! Leave him alone!" Victoria cried, also pulling from the ropes to break free.

"This is going to be so much fun… So much fun," Carlos said, caressing his knuckles.

ZZZ

"Where did you search already? Tracking in the dark is going to be difficult," Zorro said when he hopped on Toronado, about to leave the cave. Felipe signed the list of places quickly, and then he mentioned how reluctant the alcalde was to launch an official search.

"Was he? Why?"

Felipe shrugged his shoulders, showing his palms up.

"Well, he is not a fan of Esteban, that's for sure, but… I think I'll start with a visit to his office, and then I'll check the tavern. Please, keep an eye on my father, so he doesn't do anything stupid in the meantime."

Felipe nodded and watched him go through the cave's back passage, hoping he could sort everything out, as he always did.

ZZZ

Carlos continued questioning and abusing the couple until Esteban said he told everybody in the pueblo what the bastard Duke did. He said he told all the dons, including his father and his uncle, the alcalde, Mendoza and most of the soldiers, and the gossip had spread like wild fire from the tavern.

"You'll have to kill us all, because everybody knows," Esteban said softly while hanging from the ropes like a carcass in the abattoir, swinging, not supporting any weight on his feet, without any strength left.

"I don't think so. You said nobody before. Maybe this will refresh your memory," Carlos said, producing a leather whip. Matías cut Esteban's shirt with his knife while Carlos cracked the whip a couple of times to loose it up.

"Look at this! He had it before," Matías said, surprised by the large amount of whip marks crisscrossing his back.

"And not that long ago," Carlos said, evaluating the now healed, but relatively fresh scars. "Who did this?"

"The fairy Godmother," Esteban said without lifting his head to look at him.

"You are in no position to be funny, you know?" Carlos said, kicking his groin. While Esteban grunted and whimpered with fresh tears in his eyes, he approached Victoria again. "Maybe it will be more effective if you try the whip instead." He ripped the back of her dress then, and when he pushed her raven hair out of the way, he saw the single scar across her back. "What the hell is going on? What's this?"

"Ask the alcalde," she said, furious. "He did it!"

"I will, but first, I think that scar needs some company."

He flourished the whip while he walked a short distance away from her, and when he turned, ready to slash, Esteban yanked at the ropes again, so hard in his desperation that this time the rusty ring anchored to the ceiling gave way, and he dropped to the ground face down.

"For fuck sake!" Carlos said. He dropped the whip, grabbed Esteban, and dragged him to the bottom of the cellar to tie him to one of the rings attached to that wall. "Bring her here too!"

Alberto cut the rope and gently pulled from Victoria's wrists.

"Come."

She followed him and he tied the rope to another ring, close to Esteban's.

"Sit down."

He left them close to each other, and then joined the little conference at the other side of the cellar.

"Remember what the Duke said: leave no loose ends. And that's what I intend to do," Carlos said, looking at the couple.

"I don't think he told anyone," Matías said. "Except his cousin. I think we can kill them both now, bury them, and move on. We only have to catch that man in Monterey, and it will be a job done."

"I'll talk to the alcalde again first. There is something fishy here. He has been too cooperative, and someone flogged that poor bastard before. I wonder why. And her too."

"Her too?" Alberto said.

"Yes, she has a single scar. It looks like they have both been tortured before, not long ago, and I need to find out why, just in case it has anything to do with this matter. Keep an eye on them, but let them talk. Maybe they'll say something juicy, so keep your ears open. I'll be back soon."

ZZZ

Esteban took some time to sit up, resting against the wall, and then shifted his body as much as he could to get closer to her.

"I am so sorry, Victoria. I never meant for this to happen," Esteban said in a low voice, still panting with the pain and the effort to move. "I thought I would be safe in California."

"Who are they? What's going on?"

"They are friends of the Duque de Cádiz."

"Why are they so angry with you? What did you do in Madrid?"

"Nothing. He did, and I saw it."

"What did you see?"

"You don't really want to know, and it's better if you don't." He pulled from the rope then to get his hands closer to her face, and caressed her cheek with the back of his finger. "I'm not getting out of here alive, I know that. But I hope I can convince them to let you go, because you don't know anything."

"I'm not stupid, Esteban. I have seen their faces, and they are never going to let me go," she said with a trembling voice. He stared at her beautiful face, hurting so much for being responsible of her pain, for putting her in that position and not being able to protect her at all. He wanted to carry on lying to comfort her, but he couldn't.

"No, they are not."

"It looks like we are back to square one, back to jail awaiting execution in the morning."

"Don't say that."

"But it's true!" she said, crying. "And I still don't want to die!"

The same as he did before in jail, when she got hysterical with the worry, he leaned forward and kissed her. Surprisingly, and despite their awkward positions, with their hands tied up, she responded to that kiss, lingering in his sore mouth.

"I'm sorry," Esteban said when he pulled back. It was the first time for him a simple kiss didn't feel right on his sore, swollen and bleeding lips. "I shouldn't mess about with you, but you know how much I love you and how upset I am you finally made up your mind. But I am happy you chose Diego, because he deserves you, while I don't."

"I am the one who should apologize. I kissed you because in my mind, I wanted you to be Diego right here, right now. I'm never going to be able to tell him I regret rejecting him, and that I really want to marry him. And I am never going to kiss him. That is never going to happen now."

She closed her eyes again, resting her head on the wall. It didn't matter anymore who she kissed, because she would die soon, and she needed the comfort.

"Kiss me as if you were Diego, please," she whispered, with her eyes still close. When he did, she opened her mouth to him, inviting him in, and despite his discomfort they fussed in a passionate kiss. Images of Diego, Zorro and Esteban mixed in her mind then, but she didn't care.

"Look at them, Alberto," Matías said, laughing. "Should we get the lights off?"

"Shut up." I am so sick of this. I hope it's all over soon.

ZZZZZ