The Secret of Zorro Tornado's Crown Chapter Five by Ella Christian @1999-2002 Contact author at EllaChristian@aol.com Chapter Five A Clean Shot Having taken a bullet before, Zorro knew what had happened when the sudden, penetrating pain exploded in his left arm. As Phantom cantered into the dark woods behind the Natchez boys, he guided the stallion towards a clearing. He knew he had a little time now, for Vilaro would fume for a while before sending lancers across the river. He stopped the horse and tried to look at his arm. Pulling his right glove off, he put his hand where the vivid pain was centered. He felt the hot, wet stickiness even before he looked down to see the blood. Gritting his teeth, he felt more at the wound. His probing fingers found the hardness of the bullet. It was not lodged deep in his muscle, but it was still in his arm. He winced. The next hour or so was not going to be fun. He needed to get the bullet out fast. He took a deep breath, trying to get the fuzziness that was mounting in his head to clear. "Shot!" he muttered in exasperation to himself as he tried to get the blood to stop flowing. "She is going to love this!" He took another deep breath. Then he pulled off his hat and removed the black scarf on his head, thankful that he had put it on that evening when he dressed to ride. He slid it under his left arm and then, yanking it tight with his right hand and his teeth, he tied a tourniquet at the top of his arm. That should buy some time, he told himself. He took another breath and indeed his head cleared a little. He could hear the lancers splashing into the river, Vilaro cursing at them liberally. "We'll have to cross again further downstream," he said to Phantom softly, patting the horse's neck. He put his hat back on. Phantom shook his head vigorously, wanting to be off. "Si, I know you can outrun them all." He looked all around the clearing, and spied an opening in the trees. It was a path that led south, around the mountain they had just crossed. "We shall have to take the long way, boy, but it will be a little easier on both of us," he told his steed. Again Phantom shook his mane, prancing sideways. Zorro gave the horse the reins and they dove through the low-hanging branches, heading south on the long road home. * * * * * * Vilaro's cursing carried on the air for some distance, though the Natchez boys were already too far gone to hear it. On the other side of the river, Clementia was appalled at hearing the commandante's language, but she was in her husband's huge arms being hugged so tightly that she had to surrender her shock in favor of trying to breath. "Demetrio, Demetrio," she tried to get his attention. "Too.... tight..." she groaned. Finally the good sergeant loosened his grip on her, having hauled her off her horse and into his arms the instant he could get close enough. "Are you all right?" he asked, looking into her face. "Si, except that you have nearly mashed the life out of me!" she said, stepping back slightly. He stroked her hair around her face. "I was afraid they would take you all the way to.... somewhere!" he said to her. She could see the genuine horror of that prospect on his face, despite the darkness falling around them. "Oh, darling," she sighed, patting his cheek. "I am all right." "Why were you here?" he asked her. "How did they capture you?" Vilaro came over to him and screamed something so incoherent that both Clementia and the Sergeant looked at him in confusion. "What?" the Sergeant said. "Sir?" he added. "You will get those men acrrrrrrrrosss the rrrrrriverrrr!" Vilaro barked again, this time more understandably. "We are within a few hundrrrrred yarrrrds of capturrring Zorrrrrrrrro!" Garcia sighed, taking his hands from his wife's arms and facing his commander. "Do you not yet understand, Commandante, that it does not matter if you are a few yards or a few thousand yards from Zorro? He cannot be captured," he replied. Then he put his hand over his mouth, realizing he had committed an insubordination. "I have been at this for years, I am an expert at not capturing him," he added meekly. Corporal Reyes stepped forward and nodded. "Si, he really has. For years," he testified. "But I think you shot him this time," Clementia said. Everyone looked at her. "What?!" Vilaro asked, stepping between her and the Sergeant. "What did you say?" "I think you shot him. Someone shot him," she said. Then it began to dawn on her that perhaps this was not such a good thing to report to Vilaro. "But maybe they did not," she said, trying to sound uncertain. "Was he shot or not!?" Vilaro shouted at her. "He grabbed his arm," she said. "As he was riding away." Vilaro whirled around and faced the lancers at the water's edge again. "Get in! Chase him! He's been shot! Forget the Natchez gang! Zorro is worth much more!" The lancers, led by Vilaro's second, headed into the water. "Get in there!" Vilaro shouted at Garcia and Reyes. They both remounted their horses. "But how will my seņora get home?" Garcia asked. "I will take her myself!" Vilaro said. "No, he will take her!" he pointed at Reyes. Then he looked back at the Sergeant. "But you will cross the river with me!" Moments later he and the Sergeant were charging into the water and were soon out of sight on the other side. Clementia went to her horse and got on it. She looked at the Corporal. "Take me to Rancho de la Vega," she said. "I will have to go to Elizabeth's party without him." Reyes looked back across the river. "Was Zorro really shot?" he asked. "Si, I think he was," Clementia answered sadly. The Corporal gulped. "I hope I did not shoot him," he said. "You shot your gun at him?" Clementia asked, astonished. Reyes held his pistol up from its place in his saddle, nodding sadly. "I never hit anything, when I shoot the gun," he said. "Everyone else had their pistols out. It seemed like the thing to do. At the time. " "I am sure it was not you, Corporal," she said, trying to comfort him. "A lot of pistols were fired." Reyes sighed, and then turned his horse back towards the pass. "Follow me, Seņora," he said. * * * * * * Despite the inelegance of leaving his guests, Alejandro had Princessa saddled and headed into the darkness with Bernardo, in search of Blanca. Rufino volunteered to join them, but was told he needed to stay and help keep the aunts and the other guests who would be arriving company. The boy's protest was so vigorous that Alejandro relented. Thus the threesome - Rufino riding behind Alejandro on Princessa - departed quietly as the last ray of light was sinking out of the western sky. They rode first up the hill to the west, for it provided a high point from which they could see great distances in three directions. All three of them looked hard and long, but saw nothing of the beautiful white mare. "She cannot have gotten far," Alejandro muttered. "Perhaps she went to the back of the barn, she likes to stand in Doņa Elizabeth's garden," Rufino piped. Alejandro started, not having thought of that. "That is true, Rufino, she does like to stand in all the flowers while Elizabeth is out there." The men in the family joked privately about how Elizabeth would take her horse out and tether her in the garden, only to end up shooing her around when she tried to eat whatever Elizabeth had just planted. Blanca seemed to enjoy vexing her mistress. The mare had a habit of waiting until Elizabeth turned her back in order to chomp another mouthful of green. Alejandro pointed eastward towards the garden, looking at Bernardo. Bernardo nodded and they turned the horses back down the hill and made their way around the stables and into the low acre Elizabeth so loved. "I do not see her," Alejandro said. "Maybe she has gone up to stand in the trees," Rufino said, pointing at the grove of live oak trees on the hill above the garden. Bernardo looked up there and nodded, again leading the way on Padre. The horses pulled their way up the hill and stopped again in the trees. They looked around carefully. Rufino insisted on sliding off Princessa and walking around, looking behind and between trees, and across the arroyos and flatlands to the north and east. "She is not here," the boy finally sighed. He went back to Alejandro and offered his hand, to be pulled back up. It was given, and the two horses and three riders walked east towards the San Gabriel Valley road. "Don Alejandro?" Rufino asked. "Si, Rufino, what is it?" "What if we do not find her?" "Oh, we will find her. She may just come home on her own. Horses are herd animals, my son. They do not like living alone. She will wander around some and then feel lonely and want to come home to be around the other horses." Rufino thought about that. "Then why are we looking for her?" he asked. "Because Elizabeth is very worried about her, and because she is going to foal any time. We do not want her to do that by herself, in case there are any problems." Rufino was quiet again for a while. They continued on the northeastern path in the darkness for around 15 minutes. Bernardo was ahead of Alejandro and Rufino. He stopped his horse suddenly. Alejandro sensed something and stopped, too. Everything was deeply quiet, but in the distance they heard a pounding sound coming towards them. It continued to grow closer, and then ahead of them on the path they saw a huge white horse galloping towards them. Rufino gasped. "It is Zorro!" he cried, peering around Alejandro's shoulder and making such moves that Princessa began to fidget. "Be still, Rufino!" Alejandro barked. To Rufino's amazement, Zorro yanked his stallion to a stop when he saw the threesome. "Seņors!" he said, breathless. Bernardo and Alejandro immediately realized something was wrong. Bernardo jumped off of Padre and ran to Phantom, taking the horse by the bridle. Zorro looked down at him, looked over at Alejandro and Rufino, and then slid off his horse and fell to the ground in a faint. Bernardo leaned over him in alarm, and saw all the blood covering his shirt and the left side of his cape. He looked over at Alejandro, who jumped off Princessa and came running over. "Is he hurt..." he started. Then he, too, saw the blood. "Oh my God," he said. "He has been shot!" Rufino ran over as well. "Zorro has been shot!?" he exclaimed, looking down at the unconscious masked man. He looked at Alejandro. "What will we do?!" Bernardo was now bending over Zorro, trying to find exactly where the wound was. He pointed at his own upper left arm to Alejandro, who nodded at him. "We are going to try to help him, Rufino," Alejandro said, coming to help Bernardo lay Zorro out so they could get to his wound. "He has helped many people in Los Angeles and now we can help him." He pulled his handkerchief out of his jacket. "If you run along this path another 200 yards you will see a stream beside the rock up there," he nodded ahead of them, in the direction from which Zorro had come. "Wet this for me and bring it back to me." "Si!" Rufino took the handkerchief and ran as fast as he could towards the stream. Alejandro and Bernardo got Zorro, still unconscious, situation. "He has lost a lot of blood," Alejandro said, genuine fear in his voice. Bernardo held up his forefinger and thumb an inch apart and pointed at Zorro's arm. "The bullet is still in there?" Alejandro said. Bernardo nodded. Alejandro shook his head, his worry mounting. "We need to remove it as fast as we can. Do you have your knife with you?" Bernardo nodded again, and pointed at Zorro's saddlebag on Phantom. "Ah, his is even better, isn't it. Use that," Alejandro told him. Bernardo got up and retrieved the knife from Phantom's saddle. The horse was sweaty and prancing back and forth anxiously. Then he spied Princessa and snorted. "Oh, get him away from her!" Alejandro exclaimed, seeing the stallion's sudden, acquisitive look in the mare's direction. Bernardo gave him the knife and hurried over to tether Princessa to one tree and Phantom to a different one. Zorro, meanwhile, started to regain consciousness and groaned loudly. "Diego," Alejandro said to him softly. "We have you, Bernardo and I have you. We are going to try to remove the bullet. Rufino is with us." Zorro groaned again, but nodded that he understood. "I cannot remove your hat or mask," Alejandro said. Zorro nodded again, and half-reached for his injured arm. "Do not try to touch it, your tourniquet is holding everything pretty well," Alejandro said. He lifted Zorro and held him in his arms as Bernardo leaned over and ripped away a section of the black shirt. It was dark out, but they could see the bullet hole and the oozing blood around it. "I am sorry we do not have any whiskey to help you through this, son," Alejandro said softly. Rufino ran back up and handed Alejandro the soaked kerchief. He looked down at Zorro, who was woozy. "Is he going to die?" he asked. "No!" Alejandro barked. It caused a smile to form on Zorro's lips, despite his pain. "I think not, Rufino," he murmured. Bernardo took a breath and then lifted the knife to flesh and began to probe for the bullet. Zorro stiffened in sheer agony. Alejandro held him as best he could. The blood began to flow more freely despite the tourniquet. Rufino, seeing this, fainted to the ground. "That is probably for the better," Alejandro muttered. He looked at his son in his arms. "Hold on," he said. "He will find it quickly." Zorro nodded with a terrible groan. But Bernardo's touch was quick and accurate. After only a few more terrible moments, he held the bullet up triumphantly, and pressed the wet cloth into Zorro's arm. "Good! We have it, Diego," he said. "Now we can concentrate on getting the blood to stop." "Good," Zorro whispered. He was nearly blind with how much the hole in his arm hurt. "Was anyone following you?" Alejandro asked. Bernardo re-tightened the tourniquet and began wrapping his banda around Zorro's arm. "No," Zorro whispered. "At least I think I got them off my trail." He looked up at his father. "You have to get me home." "We have every intention of doing just that!" Alejandro said, helping him sit up more fully. "Do you think you can ride?" Zorro felt at his arm. The bandage was tight, making the pain tolerable. It was a relief to have the bullet out. He smiled at Bernardo. "Thank you, my friend," he said. Bernardo smiled back and gave him a Zorro-like salute. He looked at his father. "I think I can ride, especially if the alternative is walking. What on earth are the three of you doing out here?" Alejandro sighed. "I could be asking you the same question!" He got to his feet and, with Bernardo's help, assisted Zorro in doing the same. "Blanca got out of her stall," he said. Zorro's eyes widened. "Did you find her?" he asked. He took a few steps towards Phantom, feeling weak but in control. "Not yet," Alejandro sighed again. He looked down at Rufino, still on the ground. "Rufino," he said. He patted the boy's shoulder. "Rufino." Rufino moaned and half sat up. Looking around, he saw Bernardo, Alejandro and Zorro all standing there. Zorro was still in his mask and black clothes, though there was a huge tear in his shirt and his arm was heavily bandaged. "Zorro," the boy said, awed. "I will be all right, Rufino, thanks to Don Alejandro and Bernardo and you," the masked man said with a smile. He put his hand on his arm. "It is a good thing they did not get my fencing arm!" he added. He went to Phantom. Then turning back to the threesome, he said, "Seņor de la Vega, you and your manservant and Rufino have done me a good deed. I shall be ever in your debt." He mounted the horse, wobbling a little. Bernardo started to take a step forward to help, but then held himself back. Zorro sat there for a moment, orienting himself. It was obvious that he was still in great pain and giving the best performance he could. Alejandro frowned, not what he was seeing. Another surge of worry ran through him. Stepping away from Rufino, he went to Bernardo made a few gestures regarding searching for the horse while he said softly under his breath, "I will instruct you to look for Blanca elsewhere. Follow him home and make sure he gets there safely. If Elizabeth has to choose between her horse and her husband I can safely say we have no contest." Bernardo let Alejandro finish his gestures and then looked up at Zorro. The masked man was watching the exchange and, in all likelihood, ascertaining what was being instructed. "Rufino!" Alejandro said, "I have asked Bernardo to head south in the search for Blanca. You and I will go a little further north and east, to make sure Zorro did not miss her on this trail." "Are you looking for a horse?" Zorro asked. "Si, my daughter-in-law's," Alejandro answered, going to Princessa and getting on. He gave Rufino a hand and the boy clambered up behind him. "She ran away," Rufino offered. "Because of Esperanza's pony." "I see," Zorro said. "Well I hope you find her, I have heard that Seņora de la Vega is very partial to that horse. I believe she was a gift from Don Diego." "That is right!" Rufino said excitedly. He looked up at Alejandro in front of him. "Even when he is shot, Zorro knows everything!" "He knows a great deal," Alejandro agreed. "Good luck to you, Seņor Zorro. Take care of that arm." "Again I thank you for your kindness, Seņor de la Vega!" came the reply. Then the masked man wheeled around on his tall white stallion and took off up the trail. Bernardo nodded at Alejandro and then followed in Zorro's direction. Alejandro and Rufino sat there for a moment, and then Princessa turned again to the east. "We shall continue this way a little while," Alejandro said, "and then we will have to go home." "But what if we do not find her?" "She might be there when we get home. We will find her, Rufino. But we have guests waiting." "Don Diego is probably there by now, he can entertain them." Alejandro sighed. "I hope so." They rode in silence for a while. Then Rufino said, "Don Alejandro." "Si Rufino?" "I want to be Zorro some day." Alejandro said nothing for a few moments, the idea of his second son being Zorro striking at his soul. One was quite enough. "Even when he gets shot?" he asked. "No one will shoot me, I will be even faster than this Zorro." Alejandro half-chuckled. "I see," he said. "And where will you get a horse even faster than Phantom?" "Oh, I will get one. Perhaps Doņa Elizabeth's mare will have him." "If Doņa Elizabeth's mare has him, he would be a pretty old horse by the time you are ready to be Zorro. You are eight, Rufino. Zorro has to be....at least twenty." "Do you think so? I think he is much older than that, but then he has been Zorro for many years." "How old do you think he is?" "Ohhhhhhh...." the boy thought for a moment. "Fifty," he said. "Fifty!" Alejandro laughed. "That is an old Zorro." "How old are you, Don Alejandro?" "Older than fifty, my son, and much too old to be Zorro. So do not get any ideas." "We do not need you to be Zorro, we have a Zorro!" the boy shot back. "But someday this Zorro will not want to be Zorro anymore and then I shall do it." Alejandro patted the boy's hand where it rested on his hip. "You have lots of time before you have to think about that." "I think I shall ask Don Carlos to teach me to fence," Rufino said. Alejandro sighed. * * * * * * Bernardo shadowed Zorro all the way to the cave. When he arrived, thirty seconds behind his master, he jumped off Padre and hurried into the cave. Phantom was loose and agitated. Zorro was on the floor, barely conscious. Hurriedly Bernardo lit the lantern. He could see immediately that the ride had re-started the bleeding. Pushing Phantom out into the canyon, he then bent over his master and pulled the make-shift bandage away. Indeed, the wound was open and blood was oozing out. "If we can just get it to stop...." Zorro muttered weakly. Bernardo nodded. He pulled the hat and mask off his master's face, and untied the cape at his neck. The face that greeted him was ashen. "That's better," Diego murmured. Bernardo worked for a while to get the bleeding to ease. Once he had succeeded, he looked at the stairwell, his instincts turning to fetching medicine, bandages, and Elizabeth. Diego read his mind. "No, do not get her," he said. "Help me get this re-patched. We have guests coming tonight and I must be there." Bernardo frowned, giving his master a rare display of anger. He pointed vigorously at his ring finger and up the stairs, and then at where Diego lay. "I know you think she should be here," came the reply. "But there is nothing she can do that you cannot." Bernardo raised his eyebrows, causing Diego to chuckle despite his pain. "Fair enough," he agreed. "But please, do not get her, she will be terribly upset. It is her birthday, Bernardo. Let her have her evening. I will tell her when we retire, there is no way I can keep it from her then anyway." Bernardo pointed at his wound and then upstairs again, and then gestured eating and held his hands up helplessly. "Si, it will not be easy. But it is my left arm. Go, please go up and get the bandages. Clean the wound; bandage me tightly.... I will get through it." Bernardo was clearly not happy. He looked again at the wound. Satisfied that the worst was under control, he picked up the lantern and headed for the stairs. I cannot believe this has happened, Diego thought to himself as he lay in the darkness. Of all the days to get shot! And over the Natchez boys.... he shook his head. Some lancer had, after all these years, had a lucky aim. Things never happened when he expected them to, not the good ones or the bad ones. Making himself sit up, he felt around and got his hands on the second lantern. The matches were beside it thanks to Bernardo's consistent and thorough care of the cave. He struck a match against the stone, lit the lantern, and looked at his arm. The bullet had come out clean; the entry point did not look reddened or infected. If he did not jostle it too much, the healing would begin quickly. The pain was settling into a deep and terrible ache. He looked at his cape and shirt. The shirt was hopelessly torn, the cape half-covered with blood. Time to get the new set out, he thought. He took a deep breath, feeling woozy. Standing up was not going to be easy. He heard steps coming towards him. Bernardo appeared, bandages, medicine, and a pitcher of fresh water in his hands. He was alone, to Diego's relief. Elizabeth still did not know. "Well done, I am amazed you got down those stairs without the lantern and without spilling anything," he tried to joke. Bernardo gave him a fierce look and then started concentrating on his arm. "It appears to be a clean shot," Diego said. "It should heal.... ow! ...quite nicely." Bernardo glared at him again, not having the small talk. He continued to clean and dress the wound carefully and thoroughly. Diego waited, grimacing and trying not to moan and groan. He had forgotten how much it hurt to get shot. After he was satisfied with his cleaning and medicating job, Bernardo began the bandaging process. He knew Diego would refuse to wear a sling, though that was indicated with this kind of injury. He therefore had to find exactly the right bandage pressure, so that the arm had some mobility but was as stable as possible. It took time, but finally they were both satisfied that he had succeeded. "It is good," Diego said. "Once again you have saved me, my friend. Now please help me to my feet...and we can go upstairs and have the pleasure of changing me into Diego's suit." Bernardo shook his head, anticipating difficulties with that. "We shall manage," Diego assured him. He offered his right hand. "Come, come. Let's get it over with." Bernardo helped him to his feet. He steadied himself carefully and they went down the passage and slowly up the stairs. * * * * * * Elizabeth had her hands full. Esperanza was being fussy and clingy with her mother; Consuelo had arrived with the Boccas and stories about the jailbreak and Clementia's fierce ride after the lancers and her Sergeant, and she found herself wanting more time than she was getting with her aunts. She continued pushing her worry over Blanca out of her mind, making herself trust that Alejandro and Bernardo would find her. She was beginning to feel anxious about the fact that Diego had not yet appeared. Carlos was holding court as best he could in the situation, though everyone found it rather odd to have Elizabeth's father hosting a party at the de la Vega hacienda. Everything seemed slightly fractured. It was thus a relief when Elizabeth spied Bernardo coming down the stairs, carrying a large pitcher. Diego was just behind him. "Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed, getting up. She handed Esperanza to her father. The baby immediately howled, not wanting to be anywhere besides in her mother's arms. Elizabeth ignored her and ran to Diego as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Bernardo watched in horror as she threw herself into her husband's arms. "Where have you been!?" she said into his lapel, her arms around his neck, her entire weight hanging on to him. Diego thought he was going to faint. Bernardo, desperate to help, dropped the pitcher he was holding and everyone looked over to see what had crashed. It startled Elizabeth into letting go of Diego, who grabbed the wall to keep his knees from buckling. Conchita came tearing out of the kitchen to see if anyone had committed some offense against her food. "Oh, Bernardo," Elizabeth said, going to the servant. "That was a good pitcher, we kept that in our room...." she shook her head as he shrugged apologetically at her. "It is good that was not my tomatillos!" Conchita exclaimed, wagging her finger at him. Elizabeth turned back to Diego, who had by this time managed to straighten and make his way into the circle. "Darling, how good that you finally got here!" she said. She reached for Esperanza, who was still crying. "Do you want the baby?" she asked offering her. "She seems to want to stay with you," Diego said quickly, with a smile. He made a funny face at Esperanza. "I will help you tuck her in, perhaps she will be less out of sorts then." He looked around at everyone. "Hello, aunts," he said cheerfully. "Consuelo, I am glad you could join us this evening. Where is Clementia?" This produced Consuelo's tale all over again, of watching her cousin ride after the lancers and her Sergeant. Diego sat down across from her, concentrating on the story while everyone else endured it for the second time. "Ah," Diego said when at last she finished. "Well I am sure she will retrieve him and bring him along soon enough. We can never fault her on her persistence." "True enough!" Francisco Bocca snorted. "What has had you out, Diego? Were you in search of the missing mare, too?" "I had to exercise a horse," Diego explained. "And then on my way home I ran into my father, who was looking for the mare....so I joined in for a while. I suppose he is still out looking for her?" Elizabeth, who had been absorbed with the grabbing, squirming baby, glanced at him. How she admired his ability to cover for himself so efficiently. Then she felt a surge of alarm. He did not look right. He was smiling and seemed energetic, but something was wrong. He looked pale. She looked around for Bernardo, and noticed him hovering near the kitchen door, his eye also on Diego. "What?" she said out loud. Everyone looked at her, puzzled. Diego shut his eyes for a moment, realizing he had slipped. Rufino had been there, too. But Rufino had not seen him as Diego. As if on cue, Rufino ran into everyone's midst from the stableyard. "Oh, look who is here!" Diego said jauntily. He saw his father coming as well. "We did not find Blanca, but we found El Zorro!" the boy cried excitedly. "And he has been shot!"