The Velvet Swan (Disney's Zorro Fanfiction)

Chapter Thirteen

Zorro and Bernardo came to a halt in a small group of trees for some cover. When they dismounted, Maria was finally able to get a word in. "You must be el Zorro," she said, hands on her hips.

When he realized she was not Rosa, his mouth hung open and he unsheathed his sword. "You are not Rosa! Who are you?"

"I was trying to tell you that, but you snatched me up and took me away before I could!" Maria argued, unfazed by his rapier pointed at her. "Rosa and I traded places in hopes of her being able to escape. We had no idea you would be coming."

He was nearly speechless. "You look so much alike..."

"I am Maria, Senor Hernandez' daughter," Maria told him, folding her arms. "And as you may have figured out on your own, he is not to be trusted. In fact, Senor, he is the Velvet Swan."

Bernardo, Zorro's silent friend, could not have looked more betrayed. He started frantically signing all sorts of things, Zorro nodding. "I know, we need to find a way to warn Senor de la Vega." He glanced about, sheathing his sword once again. "Bernardo, I need you to ride ahead and locate Senor de la Vega and stop him." He then rushed to his horse's saddle bag and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. He wrote a few things, rolled up the piece of paper and handed it off to his friend. "Give this to him when you find him. Now go, my friend. We may already be too late!"

His frightened friend nodded, Zorro giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. He mounted his horse, looked at Zorro one last time and took off into the night.

"Let us hope Rosa was able to get out before you came. If not, my father probably will not let her leave now that the house has been attacked. I pray he will not notice that it is not me," Maria said gravely.

~oOo~

I continued to hurriedly dig through the Velvet Swan's desk, hoping I could find something useful, but there was nothing. This man was really good at hiding his dirty works. I finally decided that I was just wasting my time in here, so I made my way out into the hall, my heart jumping when I saw the guard standing outside his study door.

"Stay indoors, Maria," he told me, his voice deep.

"I will," I told him, then walking down the hall to the left. Perhaps they had some kind of dungeon or something?

As I walked down the hall, I tried each door, most of them being left unlocked. Some were bedrooms, others storage rooms. I searched through a few of the storage closets and was able to find a rapier, but I wasn't sure what I should do with it. Would it be best to just sneak out of here and find Zorro, or continue to search for Diego?

"I cannot believe the Velvet Swan made Rosa believe that young de la Vega was here," a man said just down the hall.

With a quiet gasp, I ducked inside the closet and closed the door until a small crack was left for me to watch and listen. Two men were approaching.

"He was already gone when we raided his rancho," the other replied. "We searched everywhere, but he was nowhere to be seen."

"Do you think he went to get help?"

"Nah," the second chuckled. "From what I have heard, he is a coward. He probably fled the moment he realized they were under attack."

The men both laughed as they walked right passed me. I held my breath, both from surprise at what they said and because I could not believe that Diego would just disappear like that. Well, at least I knew he was not here. That meant I could sneak out of here and try to find Zorro. I was not worried about Maria, because I knew she was with him. She could finally be free from her father, and now, I could be, too.