~Chapter 6~

Tornado reared up, pitching his rider into the air. Elena was flung backwards into the road and the frightened camel barely missed her. None of them even noticed an elderly and slightly tipsy-looking man on a mule who'd halted at a fork in the road at the noise, and just sat watching in open-mouthed consternation.

Fezeek tore down the road as though a legion of Tartars were after him, his riders frantically trying to hold on. Elena picked herself up, not seriously hurt but badly shaken, and ran in the direction of Tornado, who was still rearing and bucking.

RoZita clung to Ahmed as tightly as she could, terrified, hiding her face against his back. He knew he would not be able to hold on much longer, not with her hanging on to him. She had dropped his scimitar also, and what was he to do without it?

Finally Fezeek ran toward a low tree that knocked his riders into the dust. The girl gave a shriek, still clinging to Ahmed. The camel ran on.

"He will exhaust himself soon, and come back to us," Ahmed said after a long moment during which they clung to each other trembling. Are you all right, RoZita?"

I don't know," she stammered. Her teeth chattered.

"What was that terrible noise? It was like thunder, and yet not like thunder. I have never heard anything like it." "G-Gunshot," she said, then buried her face against his chest, where it showed through the V-neck of his white shirt. The chest hairs were damp against her cheek. She could feel him shaking all over.

"Are YOU hurt?" she asked him, looking up. His face looked pale and the scratch scars stood out. There was a large scrape on his cheek and she wanted to kiss it.

"I think not badly," he said, then tried to sit up. He helped her sit up also. They could hear Tornado now. Elena had caught hold of his reins and had managed to avoid his huge hooves.

Ahmed tried to stand up, then nearly fell over again, saying "Ow!" RoZita caught and steadied him.

"You ARE hurt. Is it your leg?"

"I have injured my ankle a little. I do not think it is serious. Come, we must help her."

He started in Elena's direction, limping. RoZita put an arm around him telling him to lean on her. He put an arm across her shoulders and she laid her free hand on his forearm.

"Are you sure you are not hurt?" he asked her in his soft voice.

"Not a bit, my angel," she said in a sensuous purr -- the magical scent was beginning to work on her once more. She tried to fight it, but she was remembering the feel of his lips on hers, and now his weight was leaning against her and she could not help but imagine it would be like to have him lying on top of her. He had many scratches now, and before she could stop herself she kissed one on his neck, then on his ear. Ohhh the skin of his ear was so soft…

"Are you sure you don't want to peel the tomato?" she whispered. She recalled an old Beatles song. "Why don't we do it in the road? No one will be watching, and even if they are, so what? We'll give 'em something to write home to mama about. . . ."

"RoZita, there is no time. This is an emergency situation." Gently he tried to push her away, then broke away, in spite of his hurt ankle. He seized Tornado's reins and began talking to the frightened horse until it finally stood still, then he stood stroking the animal's muzzle. Elena watched in wonder. He looked and sounded so like Alejandro.

And once more she could smell the scent also.

She stepped closer to Ahmed and touched his arm, then came and pressed her whole body against his. Her hand caressed his chest hair.

"Oh Alejandro I missed you so much!" she moaned. "Why didn't you come? I was soooo worried about you!"

She tried to kiss him but carefully he pushed her away saying, "Madame Elena, please come to your senses! I am not Alejandro! Look here, I have the scars, remember?"

She looked in wonder at him, shook her head and whispered, "Oh my god, excuse me, but we must find him!"

RoZita found the fallen scimitar. A glimmer of sunlight on the blade revealed it to her in some sagebrush.

"Unhand him, you brazen hussy," she hissed, brandishing the blade at Elena. "How dare you?"

Ahmed easily disarmed RoZita of the scimitar. "Enough of that," he said sternly, wishing he had wiped off the scent while he had the chance. "We must have a plan."

Just then they heard more hoofbeats. It was Fezeek, returning and looking a bit haughty. Ahmed smiled, then handed Tornado's reins back to Elena.

"How well do you know this countryside?" he asked her.

"Not well," she said. "I have lived in Spain nearly all my life, and have been here only a few months. I told you of a band of smugglers and cutthroats who…Look!"

She picked up a black bandanna lying in the road. It had a design of skulls printed on it. She looked at it in horror.

"Once in the market place I saw a man wearing this, sitting at an open-air cantina," she gasped. "He had tattoos all over his head and arms. I thought him to be a pirate or something. He had the most evil eyes I have ever seen…" She threw down the bandanna as though it had burned her hand, then looked with terrified eyes at Ahmed. "What will we do?"

Ahmed looked at Fezeek for a long moment. Then he reached over and took one of the large bags hanging from the camel's side. Fortunately it had been tied on very firmly.

"I have an idea." He handed the bag to RoZita. "This was for you. Both of you must put these things on. Look.." He began pulling things out of the bag. Two dresses of embroidered thin silk, one of them gold with black and scarlet patterns; this he handed to Elena. The other was turquoise with silver and purple sunbursts; he gave it to RoZita. Then sashes, one black, one silver. Gold and copper bracelets, sandals of beautifully tooled leather, transparent veils for the head and jeweled bands to hold them on, rings, earrings, necklaces. And face paint and perfume and combs, brushes, hand mirrors, body lotions and creams.

"For me?" RoZita looked at him in sheer wonder.

"Yes," he said looking a little shy. He led the women to a small wooded area out of sight of the road, then looked away waving a hand at them. "You two must put them on, then I will tell you my plan. I will turn away now and do my own part."

The two young women looked away from each other and began to change. RoZita could hardly believe it: all these lovely things for her?

"It was the scent," she heard Elena say. "It made me crazy. I did not know what I was doing."

"I know," RoZita said. She dressed herself, then turned and helped Elena with her veil. Then she opened the ivory box containing the cosmetics. A small pot of rouge, skin whitener, eyeliner, eye shadow. "Max Factor it ain't," she said softly, then dabbed on some cheek and lip color and studied the effect in the mirror. "Does this make me look slutty?"

"I think that is the idea," Elena said. "He is using us to lure the smugglers into a trap."

RoZita tried applying the eyeliner, but her hand shook too much. "I'm scared," she confessed. "This sucks…I mean, I just don't…like this."

"I hate it," Elena declared through clenched teeth. "But I will risk anything for my Alejandro."

"I've lead a very sheltered life. Time-traveling to rescue Zorro is just a little out of my experience, you know?"

Ahmed called to them, "Ladies, are you ready yet?"

"I think so, but for this stuff here," RoZita said. "We can't seem to get it on."

Ahmed stepped from behind the bushes and she saw he was all in white, a headdress banded with gold, and long white robes.

"Perhaps I can help," he said. He took the eyeliner and applied it to her and Elena with deft, quick strokes. Then the eyelid color.

"You are both afraid," he said as he put away the cosmetics. "I can see it in your eyes. RoZita, I am sorry with all my heart I brought you to this. Perhaps you should not get involved--you should take cover."

"I want to be involved," RoZita declared. "I'm NOT afraid." She knew she was fooling no one. But she did want to be involved. For the first time in her life something big was happening to her.

"My dear, I was once as you are now," Ahmed said with a smile of approval and sympathy. "If I had not been in a dangerous situation, I would probably have gone through my life passive and ordinary, insignificant. My life took on meaning from the dangers, I learned courage and faith and respect for those from different worlds. I became a man. But I do not want you to pass those dangers. I would rather you became a woman by learning from the acts of others."

"Well, this is all very profound, but it is not getting us any closer to Alejandro," Elena said. "He may be getting killed while we stand around discussing the mysteries of the universe. What do we do now?"

"We must surprise and trap them," Ahmed said. "Here is my plan…"

About ten minutes later he was kneeling high on a rocky ledge gripping a sapling and looking downward, trying not to feel dizzy.

"I can see something," he called down to the women. "It looks like an encampment. I can see a fire burning and one or two men."

"Not a very strategic location," RoZita commented. "Guess they aren't afraid of anybody." Ahmed climbed down the ledge with some difficulty.

"I saw a man with a long pointed thing wedged between two boulders," he reported as he stepped down with a sigh of relief onto solid ground. He still did not care for heights at all. "And I do not wish to alarm anyone, but I saw a dead body below. I -- Madame Elena…"

Elena had clapped two hands to her mouth to hold back a scream.

"What was the body like?" she managed to gasp.

"He looked nothing like me," Ahmed said. She closed her eyes and crossed herself.

"How are we going to get past the lookout?" she said.

"I have an idea," RoZita said suddenly. "Point him out to me."

"RoZita, you cannot try to lure him out," Ahmed protested. "It is too dangerous. I --"

"He won't see me. Just point out where he's hiding."

She slipped behind some bushes and trees until she was within shouting distance of the lookout man, then ducked behind a large boulder.

"What does she think she is doing?" Elena whispered to Ahmed.

"I do not know...you can use that shooting thing?"

"Of course." She drew out her pistol from where she had hidden in her sash. Then a strange noise rang out from RoZita's direction. A weird, high birdlike sound that neither Elena nor Ahmed recognized.

She made the noise again, a little more softly. Then she detected a slight movement from the boulders above, and saw the end of a rifle. Her heart fluttered and her knees felt slightly wobbly. But she made the turkey gobble once more, and waited. And again. Then waited.

Cochino peered from the boulder cautiously. All he could see was the body of the unfortunate peasant he had shot a while ago. But he heard the turkey call. He pictured wild turkey meat with jalapeños and his mouth began to water. He could just about see the bird out there, since the loco-weed he had been smoking had not totally worn off.

Little by little he crept out of his hiding place, aiming his rifle in the direction of the noise. He heard it again, much softer this time. Raising his rifle, he took aim but did not fire. He was much more adept at stealing food than at stalking it. But he thought how impressed the others would be if he should return to the lair with such a prize. They probably thought he was pretty stupid, and laughed at him behind his back. Well, they would think much more of him after this….

RoZita chuckled silently as she watched the Mexican creep out. He wasn't even going in the right direction, misled by echoes. Once more she made the noise. He straightened, cocking the rifle, and took aim where he thought the noise was coming from.

Then she heard a deafening crack and saw him fall. Her laughter died away. Everything whirled in front of her. She caught hold of a branch to keep from falling. Next thing she knew Ahmed was holding her and gently slapping her cheeks.

"RoZita," he said, "are you all right?"

"I think so…is he dead?"

"He is. You did wonderfully. What was that sound?"

"Wild turkey. My grandfather on my dad's side was a turkey hunter, and he'd make that noise. He died when I was just a little kid but I couldn't forget that noise…He's really dead? The guard guy, I mean?"

"Yes," Elena said looking at her smoking pistol as though she didn't quite recognize it. "I've never killed anyone before."

"He was a criminal," Ahmed said gently. "I imagine he has killed many. But I understand your feelings. It is no small matter to take a life, even a bad and wretched one."

"I never helped kill anybody before either," RoZita said. "I'm kinda freaked."

Ahmed went to body of Cochino and picked up his rifle. "This is a gun also?" he said.

"Yes," Elena said. "You had better carry it even if you don't know how to use it."

"Show me how it is done," he said. Elena took it and raised it to her shoulder. She made a strange picture in that oriental get-up, holding the rifle.

"Lay your cheek on this cheek rest and peer through the sight," she said. "Find your target and draw a bead, and…"

She bent to lift a pouch of cartridges from the dead Mexican. The body lay face down but the head was turned to one side, so RoZita could see blood oozing out of the mouth, nose and ears, as well as from the wound between his shoulders, and the eye she could see was open. The others did not seem to notice, as Elena continued to instruct Ahmed. She loaded a bullet into the breech of the rifle, drew a bead on a tree branch and shot it off.

RoZita went off by herself to be sick.

Little Willy Love was bored. After his papa left to take the steer to the butcher and Pepa shooed him out of the kitchen, he followed his mother and his nursemaid around until they finally sent him outside. Which was just what he wanted, only he couldn't just ask permission to go out without getting on everyone's nerves first. Outside, he amused himself by throwing pebbles at the chickens, then he lay down mashing ants with his thumb for a while. Then he tried to see if he could pee up into a bird's nest. He couldn't, and that frustrated him so that he went out to pester Pancho, the ranch hand.

He found the Mexican cleaning out the stables and singing a ballad about El Zorro. Willy didn't know much about his Uncle Harrison. His mother had told him he had been killed by Zorro, but she wouldn't tell him any more than that.

He climbed up on a rail to watch Pancho work.

"If I was a horse, you know what I'd do?" Willy said. "I'd kick you in the rear end and knock you inside out."

Pancho's response was to start another verse of his ballad. He sometimes pretended not to understand English, but Willy knew he could.

"You'd look pretty funny with your innards all sticking out," Willy said. "Don't you think so?"

Pancho made as if to toss the contents of his shovel at Willy, who stuck his tongue out.

"You think you're funny, don't you?" the boy said crossing his arms over his fat belly. "Tell me about Zorro," he said bossily.

Pancho stopped singing. "You know about Zorro," he said. "He is the brave champion of the peasants. He save them from the wicked governor of California."

"My papa says he was a thief," Willy said scratching himself between the legs. "He wore a mask cuz he was real ugly and had warts and a great big ol' nose. And he didn't save the people at the mine. Mama says that's just a fairy tale some dumb Mexicans made up. She says Zorro really killed the governor to marry his pretty daughter."

Pancho gave a snort and rolled up his eyes, looking a little like a horse himself.

"Is no fairy tale," he said. "And he is the handsomest fellow you ever want to see. And the governor's daughter is really the first Zorro's daughter and he steal her for his own. If you don't believe, is your business."

He turned his back and went back to shoveling out the stall.

"I think you're full of horse manure," Willy said, sniggering at his own wit. Pancho went back to singing his song.

"Luisa says you can do magic," Willy said a minute later. "Can you?" Luisa was his nursemaid, Pepa's and Pancho's daughter.

"If I do magic, I will make you disappear," was Pancho's reply.

Willy pouted. "Nobody likes me," he whined. Pancho didn't even bother to reply, he just finished shoveling out the stall and then went on to the next.

"I'm gonna run away," Willy grumbled. "It stinks around here. I'm gonna go have some adventures. I think I'll be Zorro myself. You'll see. I'm gonna be a hero and you won't dare mess with me any more."

He picked up a horsewhip hanging from the wall nearby and considered popping it at Pancho. Instead, he just quietly left the stable. It wasn't until after he left that he began snapping the whip all over the place.

"Take that! And that!" he yelled. Then he popped it at a barn cat and sent her scurrying away, and he laughed. "I'm leaving! Just watch me!"

He decided he would run away for real. No use going back to that house with nobody there but fat old women who didn't want him around.

He struck out down the road, snapping the whip at the tall grass by the side, at a turtle he saw, at dragonflies, anything that moved, until he heard a wagon coming. At first he thought it was his papa until he saw it was just some Mexican. He hid behind a tree until the mule-drawn wagon passed, then he slipped out and climbed up unnoticed onto the back of the wagon and found it was full of fruit. Willy began stuffing his face, scrunching down between the baskets. Before long, the rocking motion of the wagon started making him sleepy, and he dozed off, the sun burning down onto his face.

When he woke up he found the Mexican shaking him by the arm and yelling something at him in Spanish.

"Chinga tu madre," Willy snapped, jerking his arm away and trying to think where he was. He didn't know what that meant, but the Mexican looked at him with fury in his beady black eyes and smacked Willy across the face. Willy howled. The Mexican picked him up and tossed him out of the wagon. The boy could see he was no peasant like he'd thought at first. He looked more like a bandit.

"I'm gonna tell my--" Then Willy halted as he saw a huge man with a tattooed, bald head grinning down at him.

"What ho! A nipper!" the man said in a raspy voice, grabbing the boy roughly by the arm. "Where ye come from, hey? What the bloody hell ye doin' 'ere, nipper?"

Willy opened his mouth to yell but no sound came out. He knew who this was. Sometimes when Pepa or Luisa got really exasperated they would tell him, "If you don't behave, Scourge will come get you."

A little ways off, he could see another man tied to a tree.