AN: Happy New Year, everyone!
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
They arrived at the abbot's home at nightfall and, after stabling the horses, Diego knocked on the doors three times and, as the old woman opened, glad to see him.
"Emmanuel?" he asked after greeting her and making the introductions.
"In the abbot's room, Patron," the servant replied.
Diego, taking off his fake hair and beard, led the boy to a room at the back of the house. Emmanuel was just about to get into bed as they knocked at the door.
"Diego!" Dos Santos exclaimed. "Thank God you're back!" he said, then glanced at Felipe. "And I see you found your ward."
"I did… In Devil's Fortress," his friend uttered.
"Good God! What was a boy doing there?"
"It's a long story, Emmanuel. What matters is that Felipe is here now, with us, and I will never again allow him to be taken back there. This is not to say nobody will come looking to do so. We need to find him a disguise, as well."
"What do you have in mind?"
"Well, a deaf-and-mute boy would be a dead giveaway. A girl, on the other hand…"
"He does have the hair to fit. But he'll start growing facial hair soon!"
"Well, then, in the meantime, Señor de Amo will have to do his best to make sure he is acquitted," Diego said. "Then, he will no longer be in any danger."
Felipe frowned at them and scratched his head.
"Perhaps we should start with a bath…" Diego suggested noticing his gesture.
"Yes… Well… Before that," Emmanuel uttered.
"Something happened?" Diego asked.
"Quite a few things, actually," his friend replied. "For one, rumor has it that Gilberto is set on making Victoria Escalante his wife. She's not impressed with his efforts thus far, but he might just wear her out eventually. Besides, I do believe he is becoming more aggressive."
"He's deluded if he thinks Victoria will let him anywhere near her. I trust she can handle herself, Emmanuel, but, perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea if one of our men was to keep an eye out for her. Gilberto is a dangerous man, after all."
"My thoughts exactly, which is why I asked Teodoro to rent a room at the tavern and keep an eye out for her. However, there is a more pressing issue."
"What issue?"
"Well, De Soto. He is as incompetent as ever and seems to be stepping in the footsteps of the former alcalde. His most recent deed was to arrest a poor farmer, José Macias, for not paying his taxes. When the man tried to resist, he accused him of being a rebel and sentenced him to hang. He says he'll make an example of him. The execution is set for tomorrow morning. And, from what I've heard, this is not the first innocent man he has hanged."
"José is a good man. We can't let him die like that, and we can't let De Soto murder any more innocents!" Diego uttered, clenching his fists.
"No. But I am not sure what we can do. Your father and the other caballeros all tried to make him rescind his order. I tried also, as the abbot…but none of us succeeded in our attempts. It's why I am glad you returned. I am running out of ideas and the time is running out for the poor young man. Still… we can't risk showing our hand too soon."
They were all pensive for a few minutes, till Felipe started to sign.
"The masked bandit?" Diego interpreted. "The one who attacked the Fortress…"
"What bandit?" Emmanuel asked.
"Me, wearing my black sash as a mask…" The caballero said, then refocused on his ward. "Indeed, Felipe… We could create someone new. Someone who could use force in defense of justice when words and money fail, until we rid Los Angeles of De Soto, Gilberto Risendo, and anyone else who might try to harm the people."
"You're not serious, Diego! They have a whole garrison just waiting to shoot anyone interfering. If you are dead, how will you right all the wrongs they've done?"
"You used to have more faith in me, my friend," the caballero muttered. "Now… We'll need a hideout for this bandit… Somewhere close… And I know just the place." As he said that, he signed to the other two men to follow him. Taking a lamp, he guided them towards the stables. He was about to mount his mare when he noticed Tornado looking at him.
He smiled, and, signing for Felipe to take her, he saddled the black stallion for himself instead.
"Are you mad? You just told me he was a wild horse!" Emmanuel uttered at noticing what he was doing.
"I am not absolutely sure about that, to be fair. He has no mark, but he is trained and seems to accept me as his rider." Diego said, then reached to pet the horse's long nose. "There was this colt we had before I left for Madrid. Black as night, taller and faster than all the other colts of his generation. I had assisted with his birth and spent most of my free time training him before leaving for Spain. My father promised him to me as a wedding gift, but he was stolen the very day I departed California… I had completely forgotten about him… What if…" Saying that, Diego clenched three f his fingers. The horse didn't react.
"It would be too much of a coincidence if it was him, though…" the young man said with some disappointment as he turned towards his friend, his hand signal drawing Tornado's attention and causing the horse to bow.
Noticing him and realizing the stallion had not seen his signal the first time, the young man let out an enthusiastic chuckle. "Or just a small miracle…" he said, admiring. "Good boy! I should have recognized you sooner!"
"He's your horse?" Emmanuel asked.
"Yes. Felipe, do you remember him? The colt I was training before I left for Madrid?" The boy nodded, also smiling, and then reached to pet him. "You found your way back to me, didn't you…" The young man continued to address the horse as he mounted, then petted him on the neck.
"What was his name?"
"He didn't have one. My father had let me choose it, and I just couldn't find the right one. His sire was called… Rayo, if I remember right." Diego said with an appreciative smile. "Tornado surely fits him. Now, shall we?" he asked his companions from atop the stallion.
Mounting their horses, Emmanuel and Felipe followed their friend towards the hills behind the De la Vega Hacienda.
At some point, Diego stopped and, dismounting, indicated for his companions to leave their horses by a creek and follow him. He also dismounted, leading Tornado through the dark path. As the path became wider, Diego searched the ground a little, ten pressed a hidden lever. As a large boulder gave way and a tunnel appeared in front of him, he offered Emmanuel the lamp, encouraging his companions to lead the way. He then guided the black horse through the tunnel.
"This will do…" the caballero said with a smile as they reached a larger chamber. "This cave is linked to the hacienda. That passage gets you to the library," he explained, pointing towards some stairs, as they found themselves into what seemed like a man-reinforced cave.
"You've always known this was here?" Emmanuel asked.
"Yes. And, to my best knowledge, nobody else does."
"Gilberto…"
Diego headed towards the corridor leading to the hacienda, then returned with a smile on his face.
"He didn't find it. I had left a sign here the last time I entered it, and it is still in place. Had anyone been here, it would have been moved."
"I guess you're not counting our present guest…" Emmanuel muttered, pointing towards Diego's left, causing him to turn and look.
"A fox…" the caballero noticed with a smile. "He must have entered through one of the holes in the corridor's ceiling." Right at that moment, as if hearing they were talking about it, the fox raised its head and stared right at Diego. "It's amazing, with everyone hunting them for such beautiful pelts, how those creatures of the night manage to survive." He mused, glancing at the boy with them.
Felipe nodded his agreement, then signed, pointing at the fox and then at his head.
"Yes, cunning and intelligence," Diego replied to his gestures. Smiling at the boy, he was just about to return to giving them instructions when the fox made a short whimper, causing the caballero to return his attention to it and Felipe, who had started to study the cave more carefully, to turn back.
"You heard that!" Emmanuel said. "He can hear?"
"Yes. His hearing came back a few years ago." Diego confirmed.
"That's great news! I am happy for you Felipe!" Emmanuel told him.
The boy nodded gratefully.
As for the tall caballero, he was about to also start studying the cave when another idea hit him. Staring back at the fox for a few more moments, he smiled.
"Emmanuel," he said, "I will need the count's black clothes. The ones Señor Mancebo made for him a few weeks before we departed Spain. They should be in one of the coffers brought with the shipment that arrived with you. Also, I will need black silk. Lots of it."
"Why? What are you planning on doing?"
"Put my studies to good use… We'll also need a work table…"
"There are several in storage," Emmanuel informed him.
"Felipe and I will find one while you get the other items."
Emmanuel only returned about an hour later, having managed to find the clothes and enough black tela for what Diego had in mind.
The three of them then spent the rest of the night making a glider.
"Can you also search the Count's things for the sword Sir Kendall gave me?" Diego asked Emmanuel as the morning was nearing. "And I will also need a dagger and a whip."
The man nodded and soon returned with the requested items. Diego took the dagger and the whip and put them aside, then took a moment to appreciate the magnificent Toledo-steel sword.
"Sir Kendall did say I should use it in my fight for justice…" Diego uttered as he admired it, then glanced at his smiling friends.
They called their new creation El Zorro, in honor of their "guest". He was to become the defender of the people, and Ignacio de Soto's own nightmare. As for the glider, it was a means of intimidation, and Diego hoped it was enough to frighten the lancers and convince everyone that their new hero had supernatural might.
"You look… impressive," Emmanuel told Diego as he was standing in the cave before a mirror, dressed in black clothes, a mask covering the upper half of his face, a sash around his waist, and a cape on his shoulders. The Toledo-steel sword was hanging from his belt, together with the small dagger and black whip Emmanuel had brought earlier.
"Thank you," he replied.
"I hope you don't fall from the sky and die," Emmanuel continued.
"So do I. Let's hope Da Vinci was right…" Diego uttered with a smile.
"Yes… Let's hope!" his friend said, glancing towards Felipe, who just shrugged his shoulders. "How about your escape plan? How will you get out of the pueblo?"
"I know just the horse to see me to safety," he said. "Perhaps you can find him a beautiful bridle amongst the things we have bought in Spain, and bring him to the pueblo while Felipe helps me take flight…"
The sun was already beginning its daily climb at the horizon by that point, but the servants were still sleeping, which was quite useful considering they needed to avoid being noticed.
The liftoff went well and Diego headed for the sky as his ward admired him from the ground, he, himself, quite convinced of Diego's supernatural powers. The caballero didn't spend more than ten minutes in the air as he guided the glider towards the pueblo. As people on the ground started marveling at him, he started his descent and managed to safely land in the plaza, interrupting De Soto just as he was reading the sentence.
"Who's that?" Ignacio asked Sergeant Mendoza as the black-clad man was just leaving the glider to head towards the scaffold.
"I am Zorro. Friend to all those who support the cause of freedom, and the enemy to those who support tyranny," the masked man answered, as he uncurled his whip.
"Arrest him!" De Soto ordered.
Five lancers hurried to obey his command, but the black-clad man used his whip to disarm them in but seconds, then, taking advantage of their dismay, punched them unconscious. Five more followed, and met with the same fate, leaving only Mendoza and De Soto to stand between Zorro and the condemned man.
The alcalde pushed the sergeant aside at that point and, drawing his sword, attacked. Zorro ducked, then, raised his own saber. A duel ensued, but it took no more than a couple of minutes, seeing how the masked man vastly surpassed his adversary in skill and was easily able to anticipate his every move. In fact, the duel only lasted even that long because the man behind the mask truly enjoyed taunting his foe.
But, as all good things, said duel also had to end. It did so when a hit by Zorro caused Ignacio's sword to fly from his hand and stuck into the ground, at Mendoza's feet.
"Don't kill me!" De Soto begged the masked man, whose sword was now at his throat.
Zorro smiled triumphantly. "I don't have a choice… Unless you order your lancers to release poor José."
"But…"
"You are breaking the law, Alcalde, and you very well know that! Nothing gives you the right to take a man's life for failure to pay his taxes, which is what you are truly trying to do. Your sense of justice is no better than your swordsmanship. Which, I must say, is quite appalling." Zorro said, pushing the tip of his sword deeper into the man's neck. "However, it mustn't be this way… if you do the right thing for once in your life…"
De Soto swallowed hard, both because of the sword that was and because the masked man had embarrassed him in front of the entire pueblo. "Do as he says, Mendoza! Macias is free to go!" he ordered, and the lancer hurried to obey, releasing the prisoner, who hurried to embrace his worried wife and baby daughter.
"May this be a lesson for you, De Soto! From now on, the people of Los Angeles are under my protection. Try to hurt them again and I'll ride out to defend them… and to finish what I have started today." Saying that Zorro marked a Z into the alcalde's pristine military jacket, then whistled for Tornado, and mounted in the saddle.
He was about to leave when he noticed Victoria watching him from the tavern's porch, where she stood next to his father, and the young man's heart skipped a beat at noticing how she smiled at him. "Señorita," he couldn't help himself from uttering, saluting her before making his escape.
De Soto hesitated for long enough the let them leave. By the time he gave his remaining lancers the order to shoot, the black-clad man was already out of sight, so he decided to have them pursue him instead.