PART SIX: MEETING EL ZORRO
“You did not answer my question, Señora.“ The Fox edged himself nearer to her and Doña Carmen desperately looked for any means of escape. There was none.
“No, please Señor Zorro--” her voice shook and he retreated slightly.
He placed his hands on his hips. “I am not leaving here until I receive your answer!”
She shrugged. “I have been coming here to escape. And to try to forget the social fiasco of the fiesta the de la Vegas kindly held in my honor." Carmen sighed resignedly.
"But I was deluding myself. Two weeks ago, I summoned up the courage to ride with my maid, Maria, to do some shopping in Los Angeles. That was another faux pas that I made."
The Fox said nothing and continued to stare at her.
Doña Carmen covered her face with her hands. "I--was 'asked' not to patronize the tradesmen's shops. The shopkeepers said that they would prefer to deal with my maid, Maria. Father Felipe brings me the Blessed Sacramento at my hacienda, because the local dons were upset that I was attending mass with them! It appears, Señor Zorro, that everyone in Alta California knew of my 'scandalous' lifestyle in Madrid!"
Zorro turned his hands with the palms up. “Pray enlighten me!”
‘Dios! He called me Doña Carmen and not Señora Rodriguez! What is it about this man? She felt an immediate and exciting attraction to this ‘caballero’! 'Be still, Carmen. He must be a caballero - his manners are impeccable. Carmen, try not to be afraid of him!’
She somehow found her voice again and began to tell Zorro her life story. “In Spain, my husband would not allow me to return to King Ferdinand’s court unless I stayed within the ladies-in-waiting rooms. I had to remain there until the ladies were permitted to leave the Royal Presence. All because I smiled at a French Comte named Richard Besoin du Sielles!“
“Don Luis- my late husband - accused me of having an affair with the Compte. I was not the Compte’s mistress, but I was tempted. Except for the Crown Prince and this Compte du Sielles, no one spoke to me for over a year. That was how the truly ugly rumors began at Court.”
“Please continue Dona Carmen.... I find your tale to be very interesting!”
Carmen shivered. “One of the ladies in waiting, she had ...feelings for the Compte. When she saw him engaging me in conversation, Doña Maria Madre de Ellsinore told Don Luis that I had been unfaithful. Oh, my life was horrible from that point until Don Lius’ death 11 months later!
She turned her back to Zorro. “By that time he had been hitting me three or four times daily. Only when I miscarried did the Mistress of Royal Handmaidens intervene with His Majesty. Don Luis left King Ferdinand VII’s Court in disgrace. Fortunately, for me, he suffered several heart attacks and died almost a year later as I mentioned earlier.”’
Zorro’s face flushed. 'I truly feel ashamed. Dios! I had heard that Don Luis was very physically abusive when angered.’ He thought sadly.
“And you have been burdened with an undeserved reputation as a lady of questionable morals. Lo siento mucho, Doña Carmen.”
El Zorro hovered very close to her, his sombrero and mask hooding his eyes, but observing and missing nothing. “Doña Carmen, por favor, tell me why you did not let the Commandante arrest me?”
‘Well, woman, you always secretly dreamed about meeting a dashing caballero when you came to Los Angeles. I may as well say what is on my mind!’
“I did not tell that ... that... ‘Raton’ anything because I despise Commandante Guiterrez.”
He stood within inches of the top of her head, staring down at her, still waiting. At that moment Carmen thought that she would faint. When he finally smiled and then laughed in a rich, deep baritone, her heart melted.
“So, we are in agreement, Doña Carmen?“ He finally murmured. “We both believe that the Commandante is quite ... inhuman!”
Carmen belatedly realized that she had her eyes shut while listening to him! When she reopened them, El Zorro’s eyes were lingering on her lips. 'Blessed Virgin! I would not mind if he were to kiss me!’
“Sí.” Carmen finally said after taking a deep breath. ’Carmen, you idiot! Offer your hero some food, por favor!’
“If you are hungry, Senor Zorro, take what you want, please!”
Zorro’s eyes widened behind the mask. “Gracias, but no, I cannot. I must discover,” he said as remounted Tornado, “where the Commandante was taking the Indian miners.”
“Well, Señor Zorro, this is the third time that I have seen Capitan Guiterrez with the Indian prisoners. They usually go completely through Coalinga Pass and emerge from the Pass via a different route each time.”
Aware that he had pulled up sharply on Tornado’s reins, she gasped when El Zorro leapt down from his black steed and very lightly held her by her shoulders.
“Por favor, why have not you mentioned this earlier? Have you spoken to anyone else regarding this matter? Tell me, Señora, or so help me I shall forget that I am a caballero!’
“Yes, I did tell someone, Señor Zorro.... About two weeks ago I sent notes addressed to both Alejandro and Diego de la Vega. I assumed that the capitan’s periodical trips into Coalinga Pass involved abusing those poor Indians! Since the de la Vegas are so powerful in Alta California, I thought they would be able to do something!”
“Of course, I shall have to verify this information with the de la Vegas.”
“Nevertheless, I am speaking the truth! I asked my maid, Maria Lolita, to deliver them. But she returned with the news that both the de la Vegas refused to receive my correspondence!”
'Hmmm. I had argued with my father that we should have read the letters. Santa Maria!‘ Zorro released her arms. “My apologies, Doña Carmen.“ To his surprise, when he released her she did not faint.
She looked away from him. “I can prove nothing, Señor Zorro. The notes were returned unopened to me and I burned them. I should have kept one of the letters.” She shivered involuntarily. “Those poor men, suffering at the Commandante’s sadistic hands! Please go Señor Zorro. I do not know ...” ‘Wait a minute ... those vaqueros’ tales she’d heard in the pueblo’s market place.‘
The left side of his mouth drew back in a smirk. ’What did she have to tell me now?’ he wondered.
“Señor, I should have realized this earlier--the Commandante’s reason for stealth is clear. He must have located a vein of--“
They both stared at each other, thinking the same thought.
“Santa Maria!” he answered. “Of course! He must have found the Indians’ vein of gold ore! And now he’s close to depleting the Mother Lode so he is in an even greater hurry because.... ” He left his mutterings unfinished.
The full implications of a gold rush suddenly struck her. “Our country will be no more! And our land will be stolen from us! Señor Zorro, you must tell Dons Alejandro and Diego immediamente! Oh, Blessed Mother!”
“Señora, please understand I am only one man!” Zorro climbed upon Tornado’s back. And remember that many of the dons’ - the gente de razon - -want to see me hanged! Now, if you will excuse me, I really must be leaving, señora.“
‘He is handsome ...sitting upon his horse.... Oh yes, Tornado...I remember Maria my maid told me that is his horse’s name. The whirlwind...’ Carmen decided that if she were dreaming, she wanted to remain here.
Zorro hesitated. Then a thought struck him. He decided he would gauge her reaction to what he had to say next.
“Señora Rodriguez,” Zorro dismounted again. He bent down, then slowly and gently caressed the back of her right hand with the lightest of kisses. “You see,” he said casually, “I have been watching you here at ‘your refuge’ for over a month!”
“What?” She became very pale and began to shake yet again.
He remained there, towering over her, for sometime. El Zorro’s panther-like eyes bored into her, judging her worth by his own personal code of honor.
Carmen retreated to the boulder again and was holding her arms across her chest, looking at the ground.
Zorro stepped even closer, and for a moment he believed that she would bolt like a terrified deer. Their eyes met, and he reached out to lightly touch her cheek. The Fox noted the longing, vulnerable feelings clearly visible on her face.
She heard the sharp intake of his breathing ... Suddenly; he broke his concentration and jumped upon Tornado.
“Adios, Señora Rodriguez. Until we meet again!”
And Carmen was certain that's she would see him - very, very, soon.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
In his quarters at the cuartel, Capitan Gabriel Sobre Guiterrez swore loudly enough so that his raised voice brought his personal guard banging on his door.
“Mí capitan! Are you all right?”
Guiterrez kicked over a stool. “What? Ah, sí, Jose, I am quite well, so please return to your post, pronto!”
Jose, like all the other soldiers in the barracks, knew that when the Commandante was in a foul mood, the best place for a soldier to be was in the tavern drinking.
“That damned Zorro! I have lost more than two dozen workers to him!” He ranted and raved to his ceiling. “How did learn about my operation! I’ll never be able to leave this cursed pueblo!” Capitan Guiterrez ranted as he used his sabre to knock the piles of paper on this desk to the floor.
A timid noise outside his quarters somehow caught his attention. “Yes? Who is there?”
“A courier arrived from Santa Barbara for you, mi capitan.” said Corporal Reyes.
The letter was from Senor D‘oro -- Dios! So soon! ‘What could my business contact in Santa Barbara possibly want?’ He tore open the envelope and swore mightily again. The capitan was ordered to double the gold production as quickly as possible within a fortnight. ‘Impossible without fifty or sixty more men. Now, where might I obtain that large number of workers?’ Aha! He would “discuss” the matter directly with Father Felipe tomorrow morning.... No more “gathering” the Indians when and where he could. “Time to go right to the source!” He exclaimed.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Señora Rodriguez found it futile to relax, especially after she told Maria about meeting El Zorro, and how he had tenderly kissed her hand...
Maria sighed. “Ah, love is in full bloom---”
Carmen jolted herself back to reality. “Let’s practice our fencing, ma chou. Perhaps the dueling will calm my nerves!”
She placed her rapier with the sabre-style guard very carefully in the palm of her left hand, making certain that the front of her weapon rested on of the middle finger of her hand. She also positioned her thumb flat on top of the blade’s handle, just as her fencing instructor first taught her at the age of six.
“Maria, en garde!”
She expertly deflected Maria’s first series of attacks beginning with some simple parries. Carmen then quickly moved to repel her maid’s more complex offense with one of her favorite moves, the half-circular parry.
This brought Maria’s weapon back into the area where her attack first began, back into the Sixte or upper right part of Carmen’s chest, thus closing the original line of attack.
Since her trainer had studied in Italy, Carmen was schooled in a more aggressive style of fencing. Guards and parries were wider, and the emphasis was on force, not finesse. Despite her father’s objections, she openly preferred the Italian style, especially sabre fencing.
Carmen always believed that the best defense was a good offense. So she began her attack with a straight thrust parry against Maria’s Sixte’s position. She performed several of these movements and then Carmen used a disengage parry, an action where she passed her blade under Maria’s weapon.
She followed through her riposte, or action after Carmen had successfully parried Maria’s attack, with a lunge. Maria began to retreat, which was what Carmen wanted her to do. Senora Rodriguez pressed home her advantage, mixing her straight lunges at Maria with some cutovers, moving her rapier’s point under Maria’s sword, then lunging yet again.
Dona Carmen continued to press her position harder. Maria was deceived by her flurry of feints. In less than five minutes, she had disarmed Maria by coming up beneath her maid’s line of defense and lifted her opponent’s rapier into the air.
PINNNNNNG! Carmen laughed as she heard the sound of Maria’s blade being knocked from her hand.
“Señora Rodriguez, I yield, as always. You never allow me an opportunity to develop a defense! Dios! I think sometimes that you are a fair match for Señor Zorro.”
Doña Carmen wrapped a cotton cloth around her neck, surprised that she was sweating profusely. “Now that would be tress interresant, ma Cherie.“
Maria laughed. “I suppose that you desire to cross blades with that despicable son of a porco, Capitan Guiterrez.”
“I would love to teach that miserable excuse for a Mexican officer and a ‘gentleman’ the proper code of conduct!” Carmen’s tone was serious. “But, I guess that I shall leave that lesson to El Zorro. He is more than qualified to eviscerate that little man!”
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
At that very moment, Capitan Gabriel Guiterrez dismounted from his gray horse and strode into Father Felipe’s courtyard where the monks’ Indians had just completed repairing the stone wall encircling the monks’ quarters.
Father Felipe was just ordering the Indians to retire for the evening when he saw the capitan approaching. But before the monk could speak, Guiterrez thrust his sabre against the monk’s neck.
Chapter Seven
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