Chapter Seven - ... And Light
Part One
"I do not wish to add insult to injury by saying this to you, Sergeant," Don Alejandro replied, "but you must surely understand that Señorita Consuelo will not want to reconsider the situation."
Alejandro and Bernardo went straight to the pueblo after seeing El Zorro off to San Pedro. Their purposes were advising Sergeant Garcia that his short-lived marriage was, in fact, non-existent, and sending the Sergeant after the wayward Consuelo. They found him in the Tavern with Clementia Bocca, who was sitting with him trying to explain her cousin’s foolishness when the men arrived.
"You are being much too hard on yourself," Clementia was saying to him, patting his hand. "Even if you are not married now, surely someday you will find a good woman who will want to support you in your important military work, Sergeant. Everyone in this pueblo is indebted to you, for all the many good things you have done as our acting commandante."
"Si, perhaps...." Garcia said, watching as the latest wine bottle was opened and his glass was refilled. "But somehow I am not sure all the gratitude translates into a good wife." He took a long drink from his glass.
The Sergeant was visibly dismayed to learn that all his hopes were dashed. "Well," he said philosophically, "I suppose it would be very difficult for any woman to want to live the life of a soldier. Not that any woman would live the life of a soldier...."
It was at this moment that Alejandro and Bernardo arrived, and broke the news to their fat friend.
"Sergeant," Alejandro went on reluctantly. "There is something else. You may want to refrain from another drink when I tell you this."
Garcia looked at him apprehensively.
"Consuelo has run away from home."
Garcia looked at Clementia. "You said nothing to me about this," he said.
"I believe she has taken some money from Don Francisco in the process," Alejandro continued.
Clementia gasped. How did Don Alejandro know about the money?
"How do you know all this?" she asked. "Did you find Diego?"
"Si," Alejandro said. "On the road back from San Pedro. He spent the afternoon with Capitan Solano."
"Where is he now?" the Sergeant asked.
"He decided to go straight home to Elizabeth," Alejandro answered. "They are not much for being apart these days."
"I can understand that," the Sergeant nodded, thinking wistfully about the previous night when they had all witnessed Diego carrying Elizabeth up the stairs. "Marriage is bringing out fine...and creative... things in Don Diego," he said.
"Si, we all think that," Clementia said. "It can bring out the best in a person."
"Or the worst," Garcia sighed, taking another drink. "Or nothing at all...." he continued. He looked at Clementia sitting before him. She was not the most beautiful woman in the pueblo, and she was notorious for her ability to gossip, but she had a good heart and, in the Sergeant’s unspoken opinion, a fine bosom. "Why have you never married, Señorita Clementia?" he asked.
Alejandro and Bernardo glanced at each other. Garcia was not taking their cue to call the lancers together and set out for San Pedro.
Clementia looked startled. "Me?!" she exclaimed. "Well, I am not so old that I may yet find a husband!"
Alejandro and Bernardo exchanged another glance. Clementia was 26, which was considered far beyond the prime of a woman seeking marriage in the pueblo.
"I think that, more and more, arranged marriages are becoming a thing of the past," the Sergeant said. "Not that the wedding of Don Diego and Señora Elizabeth was a bad thing!" he added hastily for Alejandro’s benefit.
"Sergeant, Don Carlos and I knew exactly what we were doing with those two," Alejandro said. "Now, don’t you think it might be time to assemble some lancers and make your way to San Pedro to find Consuelo and retrieve that money?"
Garcia snapped out of his philosophical mood and sat up. "Si, I should find out what...." he looked at Clementia. "Do you know what she took? How much?"
Clementia could not help it, she teared up. "Si..." she said, her receded chin trembling.
"Oh, no, it cannot be so bad that you need to cry, señorita," he said gently, pulling a very dirty handkerchief out of his pocket.
She looked at it, but Alejandro came to the rescue by offering her his clean one. "Thank you," she said to both of them. Then she looked at the Sergeant. "It was....20,000 pesos!" She burst into tears.
"Twenty thousand!" Garcia repeated, astounded. He looked at Don Alejandro.
"I had no idea it was that much!" the senior de la Vega said. He looked at Bernardo. No wonder she had knocked Diego out when he would not cooperate with her plan. It was a small fortune. "Did Elizabeth know about the money?" he asked Clementia.
Through her tears, Clementia nodded miserably.
Garcia got up and sounded the alarm. "Lancers!" he cried. The several sitting around in the Tavern stood at attention. "To San Pedro!" he cried. "Mount your horses!"
Everyone in uniform began to scramble. Garcia took Clementia’s hand, and very elegantly kissed it. "Señorita, do not worry. We will find your father’s money, and we will find that rascal of a cousin of yours, too!" He then looked at Don Alejandro. "If I had known she was a thief, I never would have married her!" he announced. With that, he headed out the door.
Escorted home by her father, Elizabeth arrived to a quiet house. No Alejandro, no Bernardo, and most significantly, no Diego. She looked for him in the stable, to find that Apache was not in his stall. She looked in the downstairs rooms, and in their bedroom. He was not there. And the black glove that had been sitting on her dressing table was gone. She went into the secret room where Zorro’s clothing and sword were kept, to find the sword rack and clothing pegs empty.
"What is going on?" she asked herself, looking around the room. She went down the two flights of stairs and into the dark passage that led to Tornado’s cave. The horse was not there, nor was he standing in the box canyon beyond the cave entrance.
It seemed obvious that Diego had reconsidered his decision. But how had he returned from San Pedro, gotten his things, and left again so quickly? Something about the whole picture struck Elizabeth as odd. She heard the sounds of people walking above her, which meant that someone was returning horses to the stable. She ran back upstairs, to find Alejandro and Bernardo in the sala.
"Where is Diego!" she burst. "Zorro’s things are gone! So is Tornado!"
Bernardo nodded, and Alejandro came over to her. "He is in San Pedro, as El Zorro," he said to her, taking her arms. "Finding Consuelo and all the money you did not tell us she had taken!"
"Clementia made me promise not to tell," Elizabeth said.
Alejandro let go of her. "It is a fine mess," he said. "It’s a good thing she did as little damage to Diego as she did," he winced immediately, not having meant to let that slip out.
"Damage?!" Elizabeth repeated. "What damage?" She looked at Bernardo and back to her father-in-law.
"She hit him on the head with something," Alejandro said. "But we found him, he is all right, he put on the clothing and got on Tornado and went after her."
"Hit on the head!" Elizabeth exclaimed in alarm. "And you let him ride away?"
"He was fine, he insisted he was fine!" Alejandro said.
"Was he fine when you found him?" She looked from her husband’s father to his servant and back. Bernardo looked at the floor and then at Elizabeth, pointed at the ground, and then made a motion of putting his hands against one cheek, as if he were sleeping.
"He was unconscious!?" Elizabeth cried. She turned and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Alejandro asked. "It is after 8:00!"
"I’m going to find him!" she exclaimed. "He could be hurt!"
"Elizabeth, I tell you, he was fine. I would have known it if he were seriously injured, I would not have let him get on the horse and ride away. Neither of us would have!" Alejandro said.
"I think we are all so anxious that he continue as Zorro that we will let him do something reckless if it keeps him behind the mask!" Elizabeth said fiercely.
"Risk sometimes comes with the job," Alejandro said. "Please, my dear, you cannot go out into the night now."
"He might need me!" she said. "I’m going!"
"Sergeant Garcia and the lancers are already on their way, he will have reinforcements soon," Alejandro said, trying to dissuade her. He did not relish arriving in San Pedro at midnight, but he knew he could not let her make the journey alone. "His plans was simply to put Consuelo into a situation of house arrest until the Sergeant gets there. I’m sure by now he is on Tornado and on his way home to us, Elizabeth. Please, wait."
Elizabeth was torn. She knew Alejandro was probably right, and that Diego was in all likelihood on his way home by now. But she had a bad feeling about the whole situation. New twists kept appearing in the roadway, the latest being Consuelo’s laying a log on Diego’s head.
"I can’t wait," she said. "If he is on the road he will see us and let us know we can turn back. If he is not, he is in San Pedro and he may need me. I’m going. I’ll take Padre, he is so much faster than Cloud Dancer."
Thus the debate around staying or leaving began.
In San Pedro, the curandera had managed to get Zorro sufficiently stabilized to move him, with Felipe’s help, off of her table and onto the cot she kept for the visiting ill. After moving him she again banished Felipe from the inside of the shack, fearing that Zorro would say more that might reveal his identity. He was mumbling Elizabeth’s name over and over when he approached consciousness, only to drop back into his dark hole without fully regaining his senses. Sometimes in his delirium he whispered "kitten." The first time he said it the curandera looked at him in puzzlement, wondering if he were talking about a cat. When it came out again she realized she was hearing a term of endearment, and that once again he was asking for his wife.
She made sure his mask stayed on, but kept cold cloths on his head and noted with dismay that the knot on his skull was extremely large and still oozing blood. "I don’t know what you were hit with, Señor, but it was a heavy thing very fiercely aimed," she said to him.
He moaned, trying again to come into a state of consciousness. "Elizabeth...." he mumbled again.
He opened his eyes for a moment, and the face of the strange woman appeared before him. "Where am I?" he whispered.
"You are in San Pedro," she told him. "My name is Lolita. I am the curandera the boy Felipe brought you to."
"Ahhhh," he half-groaned, his hand coming to the back of his head. He realized the mask was still on his face. He tried to sit up, but fell back in pain and wooziness.
"You have a concussion, Señor," she told him. "It is a bad one. You will need to rest here for a few hours at least. I can help you with it, but you must cooperate with me."
He looked at her.
"Do not worry," she said. "I will not remove the mask, even if you are asleep. I have not so far, why would I now?"
"Thank you, señora," he said. He lay there for a moment. "The boy...."
"He is outside, keeping watch for me. I do not believe I want anyone to know that I have El Zorro lying here."
He nodded, and felt the searing pain again. It made him grimace. "I have been hit in the head before," he said, "but never this....effectively."
"Here," she said, offering him a small vial of liquid she had prepared while he lay unconscious. "I had to wait until you awoke, but if you drink this it will begin to help you feel better."
He looked at it, and then at her. Then he nodded. She held it to his lips, holding his head up slightly so he could swallow. He took it in and swallowed, and then grimaced again.
She smiled. "I did not want to tell you how bad it would taste."
"A good thing," he said, swallowing again.
"You will go to sleep again soon, Señor," she said. "Let yourself drift. You will feel better when you awaken."
"Señora," he said, the sleep already rising in his voice. "It is possible that others will come to look for me...." with that his eyes closed, and he fell back into unconsciousness.
"I know," she said to him as he slept. "And I will know who to allow to enter."
It was well after midnight when Elizabeth, Alejandro and Bernardo rode into town. Elizabeth’s insistence on making the trip to San Pedro won out over all protest, largely by way of her packing a small bag of Diego’s clothing, going to the stable, saddling Padre, and waving a determined adios to the two men even as they followed her about attempting to dissuade her. Her departure left them with no choice but to follow, which they did. They rode as fast as the darkness would allow, and made it to San Pedro in a little over two hours. Approaching the first of the two small Inns in town, Alejandro made arrangements for rooms. He instructed Bernardo to scout out who else was in town and whether or not Consuelo was in custody with some authority.
When Bernardo came back empty-handed, Elizabeth became truly frantic. They were all in Alejandro’s room, trying to sort out what to do.
"Something terrible has happened, I just know it!" Elizabeth cried, pacing the room. "He never got here! Or something has happened to him! Consuelo is nowhere to be found. If he had found her he would have made sure we knew it. What shall we do? Think of something!"
Alejandro was at a loss. Consuelo was registered at neither of the Inns, Bernardo had discovered. He had overheard nothing, in wandering through both Taverns, to suggest she had even been there.
"Did you check the stable?" Alejandro asked suddenly.
Bernardo shook his head.
That gave Elizabeth some hope. "Go!" she said. "Perhaps you will find Apache! At least that will tell us she is somewhere in the area."
"Unless Apache found his way here after being released somewhere on the road," Alejandro pointed out. "He is a horse who likes a stable."
"Go!" Elizabeth shooed at Bernardo. The servant hastily departed.
Elizabeth looked at her father-in-law. "This is terrifying," she said.
He sighed. "He is all right, Elizabeth. I have been through this more often and for longer than you. El Zorro is very resourceful. Whatever may have gone wrong, he is dealing with it."
"Even when he has been hit on the head?!" she exclaimed. "I cannot believe you let him ride off like that!"
"He was fine," Alejandro insisted. "I do not believe we can do anything more tonight, Elizabeth. Let us get a decent night’s sleep, and I am sure everything will become clear in the morning."
"I wonder if there is a doctor here in San Pedro," she said.
"That would not be likely, unless it was a circuit rider. Most of the medical help in a community like this comes from the Indians and from the priests who have some skill in healing arts."
"The missions!" Elizabeth said. "Perhaps he is there, perhaps he has gone down to San Juan Capistrano. He knows the priests there."
"He knows the priests everywhere, my dear, but not as El Zorro."
Elizabeth sat heavily on the bed, spontaneously running her hand over her stomach as of she was comforting her baby. It was a gesture that made Alejandro’s heart ache suddenly. It was something Matilde used to do when she was expecting Diego. Though he refused to reveal it to Elizabeth, the truth was that he was beginning to fear for his son. Something was indeed wrong.
A light knock sounded on the door. Alejandro opened it and motioned Bernardo in. The servant looked at both of them, pointed outside towards the stable, and nodded.
"Apache is there?" Alejandro asked.
Bernardo nodded. Then he gestured a buggy and two more horses.
"And Consuelo’s horses, too?" Elizabeth asked.
Bernardo nodded again.
"I knew it," Elizabeth said. "She’s here somewhere, and she’s still on the loose. Oh, no...." she began to cry. "Something has happened to him, I know it."
"Elizabeth, Elizabeth," Alejandro said, taking her by the arms. "Please try to lie down and get some sleep, we will find him. Bernardo and I will ride back up the road to the place where we first discovered him, and we will backtrack all up and down the road until he turns up. He will be all right, I am sure of it. Stay here in my room, you will be completely safe here, this inn is a good one. We will find him."
Elizabeth lay back on the bed, her exhaustion and worry taking over completely. "Please find him," she said, as they put on their hats and headed back out the door. Alone, she hugged herself and resumed her crying, saying "oh, no," to herself over and over. "Oh, little baby," she cried. "Your daddy...something has happened to your daddy...."
The night was a long one for Lolita. She remained vigilant by El Zorro’s bedside for over four hours, awaiting some sign that her potions and the vial of bitter liquid were doing their healing. He slept fitfully, sometimes going into a state of deep unconsciousness, other times asking for Elizabeth. Though she felt badly about leaving poor Felipe outside, she needed someone to keep watch and she could not afford for the boy to hear the masked man saying Señora de la Vega’s name over and over. Like nearly everyone else in southern California, Lolita knew the rumors about El Zorro and the wife of the de la Vega heir. Though she now understood the deep, impossible secret behind the rumors, she knew that Felipe could not be trusted with such information. He was a good boy, but who could know what kind of a man he would become. And if he did not learn the secret, he would only hear the name and think, as so many did, that this was yet another confirmation of the secret liaison everyone whispered about. She felt she had no choice. So she kept him outside, insisting that he keep watch and let he know if anyone approached.
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