{"sf1_id":760221,"sf2_id":null,"title":"A Dead Ringer","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2636,"posted_at":"2014-09-24T15:24:00.000Z","tags":["Discovery","Feral","Human","Plot Development","Story Progression","Werewolf","Wolf","france","tomb"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/760221-a-dead-ringer","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/760221","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=760221\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#44 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"                In the\nmorning, they tackled the problem of what to do with Emile and Corinne. While\nhe agreed with Maggie that they shouldn't be left behind, his car was just too\nsmall. And then there was the problem of dressing them.  Corinne was taller than Maggie in human form,\nand Emile was smaller than he was and slimmer to boot. The best they could do\nwould hardly be consider a proper arrangement.\n                Maggie\ncame up with a suggestion that he didn't like, but the kids seemed to accept it\nas being nothing worse than their present situation. They climbed into the\ntrunk in their feral form, trying their best to look and act like dogs. After that, Edward drove off, leaving the idyllic countryside for the first paved road he could find that headed where they wanted to go.. At the\nfirst store where he could communicate his need, Edward bought two dog collars\nand leashes. \n                It was\na couple of more hours until they got to the town of Amboise, and once there they made\ntheir way to Chateau d'Amboise. He hoped that dogs were allowed, because he wasn't\ngoing to leave the twins in the trunk. As they drove through the streets past\nthe towering walls of the immense fortress, even Maggie was awed. \"This place is huge!\"\n                \"What?\nAnd the Vatican wasn't?\"\n                \"Yeah\nit was, but this place seems more impressive. I can see why Leonardo would have\nspent his last days here.\"\n                They\nparked down by the River Loire and walked up to the main entrance to the\ncompound. It was sprawling, and the chapel of Saint Hubert was in the back.  They got a few looks with the \"dogs\", but no\none made any attempt to stop them. Edward whispered to the twins. \"Don't you\ndare do anything even remotely embarrassing.\" They may not have understood him\nbut they got the idea from his general tone.\n                They\nwalked around the grounds, not wishing to be obvious in their haste to reach da\nVinci's tomb. The chateau was magnificent, and many people were flocking to see\nit first. There was a small parade of people who were walking through the\ngardens and from there onwards to the chapel.  The four of them went inside, and for some\nreason everyone already there left hurriedly. It might have been the two dogs\nEdward was holding on leashes. They looked rather fearsome. \n                Maggie\nwalked over to the slab embedded in the floor. It had the name Leonardo da Vinci\non it, as well as a round bronze casting of the master's face.  She rather impiously stepped over the disc of\nmetal and jumped off as if shot.\n                \"What's\nwrong?\"\n                She was\nrubbing her crotch. \"The ring just sent a shock though me!\"\n                And it wasn't\non her finger... He chuckled. \"That's a bit unusual. Let me try.\" He walked\naround the railing and over the disc. His cock felt like a lightning rod in an\nelectrical storm. He too jumped forward. \n                \"Ouch!\"\n                It was\nher turn to giggle. \"So, it looks like there is something more to these rings.\"\nThe twins cocked their ears. They didn't know anything about any rings. \n                \"So it\nwould seem. But is it the disc or something else, maybe below it?\"\n                Edward\npaced the floor around it. There was a rectangular stone insert that starkly\ncontrasted with the fleur-de-lis markings in the rest of the chapel.  The plaque very likely led to the sub-chambers\nbelow the chapel, as it wasn't very likely they had simply ripped up the floor,\ndumped in his body and covered it back up again. The question was, how would\nthey get the seal up without ruining the chapel? As a werewolf, he could\nprobably do rip it out entirely, or at least  enough for them to get through, but he hated\nthe thought of ruining such a beautiful place.\n                He\nslipped his hand into his pants and slid the ring from its hiding place and\nonto his finger. He waved it over the disc. He felt a sharp sensation, sort of\na pull, but less of a shock than before. \n                \"Maggie,\nget your ring and put it on your finger.\" \nShe turned and fumbled a little with her anatomy before turning back\nwith it on. She looked slightly embarrassed.  The twins were looking at them oddly, with\ntheir wolf faces having the most quizzical looks on them.\n                She\ncame over and stood by Edward.  He held\nhis hand over the disc. \"Can you feel that?\"\n                She\nheld hers over it as well. \"Yep! It's not so bad now. Inside me it felt like a\ncattle prod.\"\n                \"But\nwhat does it mean?\"\n                \"Hell\nif I know.\" He held the ring over the circle of metal bearing the master's face\nin profile. The ring pulsed with life. \"Give me the two boxes we haven't opened\nyet.\"\n                Maggie\nreached into a small bag and pulled them out. He set them on the disk. A faint\nhum filled the chapel. Edward looked around, and a few visitors had walked in,\nbut because of the \"dogs\" they didn't stray close to where they were. \n                \"Mags,\nsomething is happening. Hold your ring over here.\" She complied. The humming\nincreased; a thrumming sound that was like the low, deep end of a large\nspeaker. The very stone of the chapel seemed to be alive with it.\n                \"This\nis weird!\" she cried.\n                He\ngrabbed her hand and forced it to make contact with the disk. He did the same\nwith his. There was a momentary pause, followed by a scraping as the metal\nplate lifted from its spot on the floor. It turned as it did, scraping and\nrasping at the marble confining it. When it came free it rose in the air, not\nby magic, but by an ingeniously design contraption built underneath. When it\nwas about three feet off the floor, it stopped, showing a gaping hole leading\nto darkness.\n                Maggie\nwas suitably impressed. \"Well fuck!\"\n                The\ntwins came over and sniffed the dank air welling forth. Edward stuck his head\nin, but his shoulders wouldn't pass. \"Dammit! This was designed for smaller\npeople. Back in the fourteen and fifteen hundreds, human bodies were a lot\nsmaller than we are today. Better diets and what have you. You guys can fit,\nbut I don't think I'm going to be able to.\"\n                Maggie\nscolded him. \"Transform and drop your clothes inside. Then reform back once\nyour inside.\"\n                \"What\nif we get stuck?\"\n                \"This\nis Leonardo we're talking about. I doubt we'll get stuck.\" Without further ado,\nshe dropped into the hole and disappeared. The twins got the idea, and changing\ninto their werewolf form, followed her into the darkness. Edward looked around,\nstripped quickly and dropped his clothes and the boxes into the hole. \"Catch!\"\n                He then\ntransformed, thinning his body out like she had done in the past, and slipped\ninto the darkness below. Once there, he could see, but just barely.  That ended when the hole above them sealed up.\nWith a great noisy clanking, the machine reversed until it was back in place.\nEven if someone had seen them, there was going to be no way anyone was going to\nbelieve their story. \n\"Great! Now we're completely cut\noff from above!\"\n                \"Oh\nfather, do shut up. Aren't you the least bit curious about where we are?\"\n                \"I'm\nelated over this development,\" he said sarcastically, \"but I'd rather be able\nto see where I'm going.\"\n                The\nflash of light was harsh on his sensitive eyes. He had been trying to see in\nthe dark, and now there was a brilliant light. It was in Maggie's hands.\n                \"I love\nthese hand crank flashlights. I picked it up in Rome, when I figured we might\ncome here. Thinking ahead is always a plus father!\"\n                She\ngave the generator a few more rotations and shone the light around the cramped\nspace.  There was a metal contraption,\nwith gears and strong wires, cranks and pulleys, but there was no sarcophagus,\nnor any recess in the wall indicating a spot where da Vinci was buried. But\nthere were passages leading off in three directions. Getting oriented, it was\nobvious that one led to the chateau, one led towards the river, and the other\nled towards who knew where. \n                He\ntapped her on the head. \"Which way Einstein?\"\n                \"I'd\nsay we might as well not bother with this one,\" pointing to the one that would\nlead them to the main castle. \"And if we follow this other one, it's most\nlikely a way of escape. We'll check it out later, if we can find no other way\nout.\"\n                \"So\nonward it is!\"\n                It\nturned out to be not nearly so simple. The tunnel narrowed almost immediately.\nThe only things that could make it through the space were things smaller than\nhumans, like dogs. Or wolves. Edward bundled his clothing and held them in his\njaws, and Maggie did the same. The flashlight was given a bunch of turns and\nthey hoped it would be enough for them to get to the end, assuming there was\nanything at the end of this tunnel to be concerned with.\n                Maggie led\nthe way, pushing the light as she scrabbled ahead. Edward came up the rear,\nbehind Corinne. It soon proved to be a mistake. His now sensitive nose was\noften bumping into her back end, and he was getting whiffs of her scent. She\nwas nervous and it was causing her to emit a wide range of pheromones, and not\nall of them were harmless. He had to fight down urges that were inappropriate,\nboth to the time and to the place. He forcibly shut down his nose.\n                After\nwhat seemed like ages, he could see the light ahead change position, and they\nfinally stepped into a room. The space was no mere hewn limestone chamber, but\na brick lined cellar. It was mostly empty, except for a half rotten wooden\ntable, and recesses in the wall holding bottles. Since they were alone, the\ntwins transformed to human form, quickly loosening their collars. \n                Emile\npulled down a bottle. The dust was thick on it. Edward couldn't tell what he\nwas saying, but he seemed pretty excited. The boy held the bottle up, speaking\nrapidly in his native French. All Edward could seem to make sense of it was the\nname handwritten on the label, Chateau Yquem. \nIt meant nothing to him, but the fact that the bottles were down here,\nand that that were obviously very old, told him that no one came down here ever,\nleastwise not in a long time. \n                Emile handed\nhim the bottle, pointing to the label. It had only a few words on it, but then\nhe noted the date. 1496. That was one hell of a vintage! He carefully returned\nthe bottle to the wall.  There was a\ndoor; old, stout and covered in iron and rust. He pulled the ring inset into\nit, but nothing happened, not at first anyway. Then, as he held it, a series of\nclick and clacks could be heard. The door broke away from its frame and swung\ninwards. \n                The\nroom beyond was also dark, but flashes of light from Maggie's flashlight\nilluminated it, casting shadows from the numerous objects within.  One of them looked like a metal lion, and its\ninsides seemed to be a mass of mechanics, probably similar to the ones that had\nworked to door. There were scrolls and papers, books and drawings. And they\nwere all written in a peculiar hand, in a foreign language, and in some cases, apparently\nwritten backwards. It had to be the work of the master himself.\n                So his\ntomb led to his workshop. But where was the man himself, or rather, his tomb.\nIt was known that he died here in 1519. That's what the accounts said anyway.\nSo where was he?'\n                It was\nCorinne who discovered the casket. It was sitting on a raised stone platform.\nIt was too short for Edward to have fit in, but probably was just the right\nsize for Leonardo. It was covered in dust and cobwebs, and a layer of verdigris\nwas below that. They wiped away the centuries of accumulated dirt to reveal a beautifully\nmade piece of art. On the top, molded into the lid, was a likeness of Leonardo\nhimself. On the sides there were scenes from his life, including one with a\nwoods and a wolf. There was a full moon in the background.\n                Edward\nspoke in hushed tones. \"This thing belongs in a museum!\"\n                Maggie one-upped\nhim. \"Everything here belongs in a museum. Can you imagine how much it would be\nworth?\"\n                \"Millions\nupon millions. But we aren't here to be thieves.\" Then he stopped. \"Really, why\nare we here?\"\n                \"Because\nwe have his boxes, and the boxes have rings and the rings are the key to our\nsurvival I think.\"\n                \"They have\ncertainly gotten us this far. But now what?\"\n                Maggie was\nrunning her hand over the casket, if that was truly what it was. It seemed a\nweird place to be buried. Then again, why not? Pharaohs were buried with their\nfavorite belonging; why not be buried in your favorite place? Her hand ran delicately\nacross the right hand of the figure on the top, and felt a depression. She\nstretched up to look, pointing her light at it. \"Look.\"\n                Edward\ngazed at the spot. It bisected where Leonardo's finger was. \"You don't suppose?\"\n                She was\nalready slipping off her ring. \"We'll still have one if I'm wrong.\" She dropped\nthe ring into the slot. It shrunk to fill the gap, coming to rest perfectly in\nplace, fitting in snugly against the other metal.\n                It sat\nthere, unmoving. There was no sound, no movement, nothing. Then there was a\nclick. And a grinding sound. And another click. Then nothing. Edward noticed that\nthere was a circular depression on the side. Throwing caution to the wind, he\nstuck his ring in it and held it against this spot. Again, the ring reformed to\nfit the space. For five or six seconds nothing happened, and then, all at once,\nthe top of the casket sprang up, blowing out a cloud of vapor. It was icy cold,\nlike stepping into a walk-in freezer. The temperature in the whole underground\nroom dropped steadily for the next minute or two, until the atmosphere was much\nlike an autumn morning. The air was chill and hanging with ice crystals. Even the\nwalls were coated in frost. Spider webs formed fairy necklaces where they hung\ndraped from the ceiling.\n                As the\nair cleared, they were able to look inside the final resting place of Leonardo\nda Vinci. And sure enough, there was the body of an old man, wearing a long, full\ngrey beard. He was dressed richly, yet no more so than in a manner befitting his\nstation, and on his right hand was a band of metal that looked very much like\nthe ones Edward and Maggie were wearing.  But the most amazing thing was the fact that\nhis body was perfectly preserved. He might as well have crawled into this\ncontraption yesterday.\n                If that\nwasn't strange enough; and it was, they all jumped when he opened one eye and\nlooked at them. It gleamed red, and it wasn't a trick on the flashlight.  The master was still alive!"}