The Velvet Swan (Disney's Zorro Fanfiction)

Chapter Ten

The silence that followed was deafening. All I could do was lie on the ground in Alejandro's hiding spot and cry, for he would not let me go. We waited for at least twenty minutes before Diego's father loosened his grip on me. The very moment he did so, I shoved him away and darted out of the tree, frantically searching for my beloved horse. I rushed in the direction I had heard the gunshot come from, the three horses of the riders now just chomping on some wispy grass, their riders nowhere to be seen. Pushing forward, I did not even care about stealth anymore. I would make these men pay for what they had done!

Not far from where the horses were, the three men lay on the ground, unconscious. I checked each one of them to make sure they were still alive. That's when I noticed that a cliff was not far from here and there were horse hoof prints in the dirt by the edge. My heart stopped. Slowly, I made my way to the edge of the cliff and glanced down, my stomach churning. It was at least a hundred foot drop, but no matter how long I looked, I did not see any signs of Casamontero having fallen down.

The only form of comfort I had was the hope that Casamontero had gotten away unharmed. "My dear friend..." I whispered, closing my eyes tight.

"Senorita." I turned to face Alejandro, who looked horrified by the scene. "I am sorry..."

Taking a deep breath, I got to my feet, my body numb and feeling like all the life had been taken out of it. "We must go to our meeting point and lay low. If Zorro and Bernardo made it out alive, they will come."

"Let us hope they are already there," Alejandro said.

The Don and I knew our enemies would awake soon, so we used some rope they had tied to their horses' saddles and bound all three of them together. We also took their weapons from them, mounted two of their steeds, leading the third, and took off. We did all of this fairly quickly, because the Velvet Swan would most likely send more men after us if possible, and we did not want to be here when they arrived.

I led Alejandro to me, Bernardo and Zorro's rendezvous point up in the mountains. Just like Alejandro had hoped, Bernardo, Zorro, and Casamontero's boyfriend were waiting for us. Zorro ran to me the second he saw us coming, Bernardo grabbing the reins of the three horses for us so we could dismount. To my great astonishment, Zorro pulled me into a tight embrace the first chance he got. "I was beginning to worry you had not escaped."

 He really did care about me, even though I did not know why. Hugging him back, a small smile formed on my lips. "How did you get away from all of those men?"

"We fought off all we could, then Tornado came to our rescue. We got here minutes before you did," Zorro explained. He pulled out of the hug, looking around with concern. "Where is Casamontero?"

My smile faded, Alejandro and I looking at each other sadly. No words needed to be spoken for Zorro and Bernardo to understand.

That night, we took our new horses and supplies and traveled to a safer, more hidden place in the mountains before setting up camp. No doubt the Velvet Swan and his men were looking for us. At the moment, though, I did not care about the Velvet Swan. All I wanted was to have my beautiful mare back.

I sat on a rock overlooking the valley below, resting my arms on my legs and staring blankly at my hands. Was any of this worth it? Someone else might get hurt or worse. I could not bare knowing that it was because of me that they were harmed. I could just end it by turning myself in to the Velvet Swan and making him promise to leave Zorro and all of my friends alone. I knew Zorro would never let me do such a thing, but perhaps I could explain it to Bernardo before leaving and he could tell Diego what happened, wherever he was.

"How are you holding up?"

I glanced behind me to see Zorro approaching. He had his hat in his hands, the cloth around his head still covering his hair and his mask still covering his face. With a small sigh and an annoyed smirk, I turned back around. "What do you want?"