When Victoria woke up she found herself on a cot, in what very much looked like a cave. The masked man, just a few feet away, was half-turned towards a table, seemingly focused on preparing something.
"Zorro?" she uttered, and he hurried to turn around and go check on her.
"Victoria! Thank God! I was getting worried. How are you feeling?" he asked.
"I… What happened?"
"You were injured and then you fainted… you had been unconscious for almost an hour now… Doctor Hernandez is busy at the moment, so I decided to bring you here."
"Here? Where are we?" she asked, glancing around.
"This… This is where Zorro lives…"
"Oh?" Victoria said, staring at the small laboratory installed just a few feet from her. "And where do you live when you are not Zorro?"
"Ah…" he said, turning around in the hope he'd find a way to avoid giving her an answer. "Are you in any pain?" he asked.
"Pain? No…" Victoria replied, only then seeming to notice the bandage. "A little…" she corrected herself.
"I should have gotten there sooner… I'm sorry!" he said, returning by her side.
"You saved my life… As has Señor Teodoro… She killed him, hasn't she?"
"No. He's a strong man. He was injured, but he was quite alive when I left him, and the bleeding had almost stopped. Doctor Hernandez will do his best to save him, I am certain of it. Your guest's intervention, though, gave me just enough time to get there, for which reason I will always be thankful to him. Had I been too late I would have never forgiven myself."
"You weren't. Besides, you couldn't have known what that woman was up to…"
"I should have! I should have, at least, suspected she was dangerous."
"You're not a fortune teller! Besides, you were too busy observing how beautiful she was..." The reproachful tone in her voice did not escape the young man.
"She has nothing on you, Señorita," he answered as he caressed her left cheek. "The truth is, I have never met anyone as beautiful as you, inside and out. You are the kind of woman who can give a man the strength to face any adversity, and the power to triumph over even the most powerful enemy."
His words and gesture seemed so intimate that Victoria's eyes opened wide to stare at him. For a few moments, in fact, they just stared at each other, inwardly contemplating the idea of uniting their lips, yet neither one having the courage to take the initiative.
The masked man was the one to break the spell as he turned around, then glanced at the table, hoping for something to distract him from Victoria and her intoxicating presence.
"How would you know that?" she asked then, hoping he'd return to her.
"It's how I feel…" he said.
"How you feel?"
"Si…"
"I… I didn't know I could inspire such feelings in a man…"
"Surely it's not the first time you did…"
She didn't answer, just avoided his gaze.
"I am honored you feel that way," Victoria eventually said. "Had I not already given my heart to someone else, perhaps…"
"Perhaps you would have fallen in love with a wanted man?" he asked sarcastically as he again neared her.
"Perhaps I would have fallen in love with a hero who gives people hope," she corrected him, taking a hand to his face and slowly caressing his jaw.
The masked man just stared at her, again fighting an inner battle to avoid kissing her, then turned around, searching for something. Something that would help him avoid caving in and confessing everything to her in exchange for just one kiss. It was too early to reveal everything to her, and he knew that any wrong step could put her in grave danger. Spotting the tea he had just prepared for her, he headed for it, and poured her a cup. "This is an ancient Indian remedy. It promotes healing and eases the pain," he said, as he returned to her and offered Victoria the cup.
She took it with some confusion, and its stench reached her nostrils in just moments. "It smells horrible!" she remarked.
"If you hold your breath you might find it more agreeable. But for it to work, you should drink it all in one go."
She seemed to contemplate her options for a moment before taking the cup and drinking it. Grimacing while trying to get rid of the potion's taste, Victoria returned the cup to her masked savior.
He smiled as he took it. "Your wounds will heal in no time thanks to this remedy," he told her.
"How come you know such an old Indian remedy?"
"A medicine man once taught me, when I was just a teenager. This and several other cures they use for various ailments."
The young woman listened to him and felt her eyes becoming heavy. "Strange… All of a sudden, I feel very tired…" Victoria said, then yawned.
"It's a secondary effect of the tea I just gave you," Zorro explained.
"Too bad… We never have any time to just talk…" she said, slowly falling asleep. "And there is something about… about the way you look at me…" she didn't continue as she fell asleep, her breathing becoming deeper.
The masked man smiled, then saddled Tornado to head back to the pueblo with the young woman. He would have rather she stayed there; he would have rather taken care of her, but that would have put them both in a far too difficult a position.
ZZZ
The following morning, as De Soto finally woke up, having been too exhausted and drunk to do so during the night, he almost had Mendoza demoted at finding out he had let Zorro escape yet arrested the woman he fully intended to marry. Considering their nightly activities, he couldn't imagine doing any less.
Seeing the young man who had been shot and Victoria Escalante injured and fuming against him, though, made him come to his senses. Unwilling to execute the widow himself, however, Ignacio had Victoria sign a written testimony, then had five of his men accompany Señora Sinestra and Jacinto Santana –who, following Zorro's advice, had turned himself in the very day after the widow's arrest – to San Diego, washing his hands of the entire affair.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
AN: The dialogue you may recognize inserted here and there within this chapter is taken from the NWZ episode "An Affair to Remember," and I take no credit for it.
