After Zorro ruined his newest plan to enrich himself, De Soto spent days trying to figure out another way for him to achieve his goal of leaving Los Angeles a wealthy man. There were, however, several factors he needed to consider for his efforts to be successful.
On the one hand, De Soto knew that, as long as Zorro was roaming the territory unhindered, he'd find a way to spoil his plans. That meant that, in order for him to achieve his goals, Ignacio first needed to get rid of the masked outlaw. And, since his men didn't seem up to the task, he needed reinforcements to achieve said task, and only one way to get them.
On the other hand, he also knew that the Count might prove a hindrance. The man had already offered to pay the peons' taxes. Surely, he had the money to do it, and Ignacio found himself smiling every time he thought about depriving the outrageously rich man of some of his funds. But the Count also had the resources to find out that De Soto would use that money to enrich himself, and the power to have it returned.
Accepting the Count's money was, thus, not an option. Finding a way to take it without him knowing, however, was definitely on the table.
ZZZ
"You're still thinking of that woman, aren't you?" Inez asked Gilberto one morning, while Jacopo was serving them breakfast.
"Ha?" the young man asked, unaware of who she was referring to.
"The innkeeper. You're still thinking of her, aren't you?" She explained herself.
"I am thinking of an innkeeper… Just not the one you are thinking of…" he answered pensively.
"What are you talking about?"
"A while back, I met a woman in San Diego…"
Inez puffed. "You don't have time for such trivialities, Gilberto! Besides, I thought you wanted the Escalante woman!"
"I… Yes. You are right, of course." He agreed. "Leave the cheese and go away!" He then told Jacopo, who obeyed, exiting the door, yet stopping just behind a wall, from where he could hear everything.
"De la Vega cares for the innkeeper. He sees her like a daughter." Inez pointed out as her son stood up and closed the door to the room, to make sure they were not being overheard.
"Should he find out that you bedded her," Inez continued without paying too much attention to what he was doing, "he'll probably have a heart attack. And if he doesn't die then, I doubt his heart will endure the idea of her marrying you out of necessity. Just as I doubt she'll refuse your proposal, considering her reputation will be completely tarnished."
"I am hardly making any progress towards that objective," Gilberto replied.
"Then, perhaps, the time has come for me to step in."
"Using that potion of yours?"
"Yes."
"Alright, Mother. If that's what it will take… Thinking about it, it might even turn out to be the perfect blow to the old man…"
"There is, however, something you should know about that potion."
"What?"
"The woman drinking it will never be able to have children…"
Gilberto smiled. "Better yet. She will be heartbroken for never being able to become a mother, and I'll have a good reason to find myself lovers I actually care about. and who might be able to offer me children, when I decide I want them."
"Then we just need to think of a way for you to administer the potion when there's no one around to hinder your plans."
ZZZ
"A message just arrived from Monterey," Emmanuel told Diego a couple of days before Christmas, as the taller man came to the cave to find him working on one of their experiments. "It's on the desk."
Curious, Diego took it to have a look at it. "The Governor is heading south with a dozen of his men. This might be it, then… He's finally going to rid this pueblo of De Soto."
"Maybe…" his friend said, less optimistic. "But what if he's coming to get rid of Zorro? Ignacio mentioned in the tavern only a few days ago having asked for reinforcements to get rid of him… of you, to be more precise…"
"I doubt the Governor would come with his men if that were the case…" Diego replied. "But we need to be ready for anything. Make sure to send men north. I want to know when he is due to arrive and what his plans are!"
Emmanuel nodded. "Have you considered my suggestions?" He then inquired.
"Yes… But I don't believe we should have a fiesta. I understand your point, that we need to keep the appearances, but this is my first Christmas back. I don't want a house full of strangers. Victoria, my father, Felipe, and you are all the people I want at the table."
"Mayordomos don't dine with their masters… Nor do servants…"
"But counts dine with whoever they want…"
"They might become suspicious."
"Then I will tell them everything… I find it harder and harder to pretend around them, Emmanuel. That night I spent in the mill with Victoria… I must have changed my mind over a hundred times about confessing everything to her… And it's the same with my father… Every time I see him, I need to fight this… this urge to tell him who I truly am."
"I did once encourage you to do precisely that. But I understand why you have decided against it. The masks we are wearing are a burden. But one you, as well as I and Felipe, agreed to bear.
"They would have no choice. They'd have to pretend not knowing who you truly are, what you've been through, or who was responsible for it. And, while I am not sure they will be able to pull it off, I am quite certain it is not right to ask that of them."
Diego nodded pensively.
"It will be over soon enough, anyway. If you are right, and the Governor does intend to rid us of De Soto, the battle is won. Risendo will find himself alone. He'll have no more cards to play, and we'll have no more reason to pretend…" Emmanuel insisted.
"Perhaps you are right… But, returning to the matter at hand, I want no Christmas Party, appearances be damned! We'll stick to my plan and find a way to avoid raising anyone's suspicions… Perhaps… Perhaps the Abbot should attend instead of Rafael… And he will insist for Fariz to sit with us…"
ZZZ
It was a few days after Christmas 1814 when a man calling himself Doctor Lozano came to the pueblo. There was no crowd to welcome him, so he had to content himself with the few lancers who decided to go see his act.
He was a hypnotist and a very gifted one at that.
During his first half-an-hour spent in Los Angeles, he made two lancers act like chickens and a third act like he was De Soto.
The Alcalde, was neither amused nor impressed by that performance and, after assigning the poor lancer who had impersonated him to latrine duty, he had Lozano arrested.
The "Doctor", though, had no intention of spending any amount of time in jail. Decided to leave that pueblo as soon as possible, Lozano asked for lunch, then used a taco to hypnotize Mendoza.
De Soto witnessed that deed through the prison's window and needed no more convincing to realize a few new possibilities had just opened for him.
"If I first stop that man from escaping, that is…" he muttered at noticing Mendoza had opened the cell's door and his prisoner hurriedly headed towards the back door to the barracks.
Reacting fast, he caught Lozano as he was trying to exit the cuartel, stopping the so-called "doctor" by pointing his gun at him.
"What are you doing, lancer? Let him go! I, your commander, command you!" Mendoza ordered as he also followed Lozano out, and found the man he believed to be his subordinate trying to detain him.
De Soto let out a sigh. "Et tu, Brute!" he then said, having heard Lozano deciding words to use in order to take a man out of hypnosis.
Mendoza seemed to wake up at that, for a few moments unable to understand where he was. "Alcade? Why is he free?" he inquired, pointing at Lozano.
"Because you just freed him, Sergeant," De Soto answered matter-of-factly.
"Me?"
The Alcalde nodded, deciding he didn't have more time to waste with him. "It's alright, Sergeant! Consider yourself dismissed for now. As for you," he addressed Lozano, "if you'll be so kind as to accompany me to my office, I believe we should have a conversation."
Realizing what had just happened, the man nodded and, still at gunpoint, he allowed himself directed towards Ignacio's office.
"So… You can make people do whatever you want them to…" he said as Lozano sat in one of the chairs.
ZZZ
Victoria had witnessed Lozano's demonstrations from her tavern's terrace while sweeping the floor. A while later, she also witnessed the man being escorted to the jail.
There were very few clients at the tavern those days, and it was the Count she both blamed and thanked for that. During the Christmas lunch she was invited to attend at his hacienda - at the abbot's remark about the great meal they had and the poverty others endured – the nobleman reacted by instructing his servants to prepare gift baskets filled with food and wine for the pueblo's peons. And he had been so generous with his gifts that most people were still enjoying them several days later, while Victoria enjoyed the tranquility and the decreased income of an almost-empty tavern.
"Why has the Alcalde arrested that poor man, Mendoza?" She asked when the Sergeant came to have lunch, just before siesta.
"He says he's an impostor…" the good man replied. "But… It was the strangest thing. One moment I was handing him his lunch, and the next, we were both out of the cuartel…"
"What do you mean, Sergeant?"
"I… I don't think he's an impostor, Señorita. But the Alcalde will straighten him up, no doubt!" He replied with aplomb.
Victoria just looked inquisitively at him, glanced towards De Soto's office, then headed for the kitchen.
About two hours later, as she was reopening the tavern after siesta, she noticed the Count's mayordomo dismounting before the cuartel and heading inside. Victoria also noticed him as he exited, almost an hour later, and inwardly wondered what he and the alcalde had to speak about for so long.
"He didn't even come by to say hello!" she remarked just for herself, wondering how come Señor Rafael didn't even glance at her as he left at a gallop.
ZZZ
Don Alejandro was in the library, perusing some books when Rafael entered and headed straight towards him. Barely had he the time to turn to see who it was that he was struck down and left unconscious.
Rafael stared at him, his face betraying no emotion, nor any sort of acknowledgment that he had hurt a man. He then opened the secret panel and entered the cave. Once inside, he headed for a box containing about a dozen large precious stones, the most valuable of the treasure he and Diego had found. Taking the box, Rafael returned to the house, ignoring the unconscious elderly man as he stepped by him, and headed for his horse, which he then guided towards the pueblo.
"Have you done as asked?" Lozano demanded to know as he and De Soto waited for Rafael behind the municipal stables at sundown.
The mayordomo looked at him and nodded before handing him the box.
Lozano took and opened it, then glanced at De Soto, as they both marveled at the precious stones inside. "Several generations can live off of these without ever raising a finger…" he remarked.
"Yes…" Ignacio agreed, taking the box and hurrying to close it. "Now, go back to the hacienda! When your master asks about the stones, tell him it was Don Alejandro to have taken them, and be convincing! Tell him you saw the man with your own eyes and tried to stop him, but he threatened you with a gun." De Soto ordered.
Rafael nodded and turned to head back. "Wait!" De Soto stopped him then, as a new idea came to him. "I don't suppose he'll notice them gone tonight…" he muttered just for himself. "Perhaps this could be a good opportunity…" he muttered. "Are you a good swordsman?" he asked the mayordomo.
"Yes."
"Can you find, perhaps, some clothes similar to the ones Zorro uses?"
"I can."
"Perfect! Perfect!" De Soto said with a hyena smile. "Then I want you to return to the hacienda, put on those clothes – make sure you look like Zorro – then find a dark horse to mount and return to the pueblo. Once you're back, rob the tavern and the bank, and make sure to be seen as you leave with the money. Perhaps cross swords with a man or two to make sure they believe you are the masked menace!"
Rafael nodded and headed away.
"You might be asking too much of him. What if he's caught dressed like Zorro?" the "doctor" inquired.
"I'll think about how to profit off of that situation…" De Soto replied. Reopening the box, he gave Lozano one of the smaller stones. "Yours as per our deal. My lancers will not come after you if you head south. Just make sure to stay away from the pueblos until you are at least three hundred miles away!" He instructed Lozano before he headed for his office.
The hypnotist put the stone in his pocket and left the pueblo with his wagon through the southern gate, just as Victoria cleaned the terrace table and headed inside with the empty dishes.
ZZZ
The young woman was just about to close the tavern's main doors when a rider stopped before it. "Señorita," Risendo said as he dismounted and neared her.
"I'm just about to close, and I'm too tired to chase you out with my broom, Don Gilberto." She replied at seeing him. "Come back tomorrow, if you dare!"
"But I need to talk to you, Señorita. In private."
"I don't think so!" she replied and pushed the doors closed.
He pushed them back a little just before she could lock them. "It's about Diego." He said.
Victoria stopped at hearing that. "Diego?" She asked.
Gilberto saw his chance and grabbed it. "Your late fiancé, to be more exact… I knew him, you see… In Madrid. I've spent the last few days, since finding out who it was you were engaged with, trying to find the courage to talk to you. There are a few things I need to tell you about him."
ZZZ
In the meantime, at the hacienda, Fariz had found Don Alejandro and had had the servants carry him to his room before finding the Count to let him know.
"Don Alejandro," the worried young man said as he reached the old caballero's room just as he was regaining consciousness, "are you alright? What happened?"
"Señor Montoya… He hit me…" the elderly man said, taking a hand to his head to check the damage.
"Rafael? Why would he do something like that?"
"I don't know, Don Sebastian… I don't know…"
The Count nodded, glancing at Fariz. He then instructed one of his men to bring Doctor Hernandez.
"He has a small contusion. It's not that bad, but he must remain under observation. I will stay with him for a few more hours. If there's any nausea or vomiting, or if he displays any sign of confusion, they should manifest soon enough. If not, by morning he should be almost entirely recovered."
The young man nodded, thanking the doctor. Leaving his father in his care, Fariz on his heels, he made his way towards the library. Emmanuel, dressed as Zorro and wearing a fake mustache similar to Diego's, was just about to mount Tornado when the two entered the cave.
"What are you doing?" Diego inquired, grabbing his arm.
"Let go of me!" he replied, and his friend sensed a somewhat mechanical tone in his voice.
"No! Not until you tell me why you hit my father! What's gotten into you?"
"Your father stole the precious stones! The ones we were keeping here."
"He did what?"
"He held me at gunpoint as he took them."
"That's impossible! My father couldn't have done anything of the sort. He doesn't even know about this cave…" As he said that, Diego glanced towards the hideout where he was keeping the box, easily realizing it was missing. "Emmanuel, what in God's name are you doing?" He inquired. "Why would you just take the box? And where are you going dressed as Zorro?"
"There is something I need to do. Don't try to stop me!" It was a warning more than an answer, and Diego sensed it in his tone.
"Of course I'll stop you, unless you tell me the truth!" He threatened.
Emmanuel turned and tried to punch him but his friend stepped away, then reached to grab his arm again. Dos Santos, however, was not one to be trifled with, either. As Diego tried to immobilize him, he brought his knee up and hit the taller man in the guts, causing him to bend over from the pain and take a step back.
Freed from Diego's grip, he again tried to mount, but the stallion would not have it, not after he had hurt his master. As Emmanuel lifted his foot to climb, the horse reared, causing him to fall back, the impact with the stone wall of the cave leaving him unconscious. All Diego and Felipe had to do at that point was to immobilize him.
"I trust you to watch him Felipe," the young man told the boy as he stood up. "I will go see if Doctor Hernandez has any clue as to what could cause such sudden change in a man's behavior."
ZZZ
"What happened?" Emmanuel asked as he woke up to find himself tied up, Felipe by his side.
The boy signed his reply.
"I hit Don Alejandro and Diego? Why would I do that?" The young man asked after interpreting the signs.
Felipe shook his head, then again signed that he seemed as if under a spell.
"A spell? I don't understand… I don't remember anything…"
"You took the gems and told Diego it had been Don Alejandro to take them." The boy signed next.
"I… I don't know what to say, Felipe. I don't remember any of that…I would never hurt either Diego or his father, you know that!"
The boy nodded, then stared at him as if trying to read his mind.
"This is absurd!" Emmanuel exclaimed. "It's me, Felipe! Whatever happened, I was not myself, obviously. But I am fine, now. Except my arms are getting numb. Please, release me, and I will set everything straight in no time. I promise!"
The boy looked at him and smiled, seemingly convinced, so he agreed to let him go.
As soon as he found himself free, Emmanuel asked for some water and, taking advantage of the fact that the boy had turned away from him, used some pressure points Diego had once taught him to render Felipe unconscious. Then, after checking that his mask was still on, he headed out of the cave and for the stables. There, after choosing a dark-brown horse, he mounted and left for Los Angeles.
ZZZ
Victoria, who had allowed herself convinced to let Gilberto inside, invited him to sit at a table and sat right across from him.
"Would you be so kind as to bring us a wine?" he asked. "It is not easy what I have to say. I'm sure we'll both need it."
She stared at him for a few moments, then consented, and soon returned from the kitchen with a bottle of wine and two glasses, unaware that, in the meantime, Gilberto, who she found sitting right where she had left him, had locked the main doors.
"He mentioned you often," he uttered as she sat down and started filling the glasses. "Diego…"
"You really knew him?" she asked, not yet decided to believe him.
"Only for about three months before he disappeared… I didn't even realize he was your former fiancé and Don Alejandro's son until a few days ago when Ignacio told me."
"The Alcalde? He also knew Diego?"
"They had been colleagues in the university. Though they never were on the best of terms. Some kind of rivalry about a young woman, I believe, was at fault."
"What young woman?"
"The daughter of the university's dean. Though, I'm not sure how much of what Ignacio had to say about that is true…"
"I heard that she had an obsession with Diego. But he never courted her. Diego was never unfaithful to me. I know that much!"
Gilberto nodded, as if accepting her statement, then remained pensive for a few moments. "I'm sorry for my previous behavior, Señorita. Had I known you were my friend's sweetheart, I assure you I would have behaved much better towards you and his father." He then uttered.
His words seemed genuine and, for the first time in months, Victoria found herself believing him. That, however, didn't mean she was in any way ready to forgive the man for all Don Alejandro had endured at his hand.
"Did Diego like it there? In Spain?" She asked.
"I believe so... He surely thrived there. He was the best student in the university, respected and envied by all his classmates; he won three fencing competitions just against me, and who knows how many against other opponents…"
"He was good at fencing?"
"He was the most gifted swordsman I've ever faced. I never stood a chance against him…"
"What happened to him?" she then asked.
"There were many rumors about why he went missing. It was not long after the French entered Madrid. Some of the people I talked to at the time said that he had joined Correna's rebels and was either killed or imprisoned as a result."
Victoria shook her head. "Diego was never interested in politics! And he knew I was waiting for him. He wouldn't have risked his life, our future, for a cause that was not his own…"
"But he was a Spaniard. It was his cause. As was mine and all my friends'."
"King Ferdinand had brought the French to Spain," Victoria remarked.
"The times were complicated… it is difficult to understand the king's actions. But I am certain he did what he thought right at the time."
She just puffed as she took another sip of wine. Gilberto reached for the bottle and refilled her glass, then finished his own and refilled it, as well.
"I was away from Madrid when he went missing. Had I been there... But I had my orders to comply with, and they took me to northern Spain at the time. When I returned, there was no trace of your fiancé I could find.
"By then, the country was in turmoil, everyone was fighting everyone, and people were killed and hurriedly buried with no one ever knowing what had become of them. Not that I ever, for even a moment, imagined Diego might have succumbed to such fate.
"This past January, however, not long before I was appointed as the King's Emissary and sent here, I was assigned to a garrison in Madrid. My orders were to study the archives left by the French and make records of all the Spanish men and women who had been there since May 1808. It's how… You see… I found Diego's name there…"
"Diego was in jail?"
"Not for long. The files I had found mentioned him being brought there for interrogation in early May. But he was released a couple of weeks later after…"
"After?"
"After agreeing to serve as an informer to the French."
"No! No! Diego would never do such a thing!" She protested, shaking her head in disbelief.
"I saw the papers with my own eyes. But I think he just signed them so that he'd be released."
"He must have escaped Spain, then! Maybe..."
"I hoped so, too, since finding the papers. But, now... You see, I asked De Soto about the letter announcing Diego's demise… He had read it, of course, before handing it to Don Alejandro."
"Not surprisingly..." Victoria said.
"It's how I realized what must have happened…"
"You know what happened to Diego?"
"Not for sure, but I do have a rather good idea about it…" he said, finishing the wine bottle in his glass, then half-emptying it. "You see… During the first year of the French occupation, people suspected of rebellious activities were either shot on the spot or tortured and then executed. Those who agreed to be informers were released, indeed, but only after proving themselves. Diego must have not known that. The French were quite barbaric. The way they had their informers prove themselves was by asking them to execute three prisoners themselves. Three Spanish... usually children and women. People they didn't want to kill themselves..."
"He would never!" Victoria asked.
"No... I don't think he could do as asked."
"What happened with people who refused obeying their orders then?"
"Seeing how he had signed those papers agreeing to be an informer, he would have been considered a traitor... and sentenced to death." Gilberto said, seeming saddened by that conclusion.
"But the letter said he had drowned…"
"That's exactly what made me reach my conclusion. Drowning people was the chosen method of execution for those considered traitors… It would certainly explain why the letter announcing his death was sent by the French Justice Department."
Victoria nodded and, unwilling to cry before that man, excused herself, stood up and headed for the kitchen.
Gilberto watched her leave, then glanced at her almost-full glass resting on the table, right in front of him.