Drifting Down the Loire with Da Vinci
#46 of The Moonrise Chronicles
They
exited the grounds of the chateau, but not without many curious looks from the
visitors. It wasn't that any single thing about the group stood out, it was all
in the combination; an old bearded man in period costume, a middle aged man and
young girl dressed in modern designer clothing, and two rather impressive
looking dogs. It wasn't the circus, but it was outré enough to be eye catching.
Leonardo
stopped and looked up and down the streets. While the town was old, many of the
existing buildings weren't five hundred years old. Some had been destroyed in
two wars, and many from Leonardo's time long ago rotted and new ones put in
their place.
His
quick eyes caught sight of the lines of automobiles. He made a beeline for
them. "These are remarkable! How do they work?"
Maggie
teased him before answering. "How do you know what they're for?"
"Young
lady, they have wheels, albeit strange ones. Metal and..." he kicked at one,
"some strange black substance." He looked to Edward. "Enhanced tar?"
"Something
we call rubber."
"Rub-ber?
There is some much I will need to catch up on!"
Maggie
tugged his sleeve. "You'll need to see the internet!"
"Inter-net?
A net in between what exactly?"
"The
whole planet!"
"I see.
So you have advanced to the point that the whole of the earth is connected.
That is incredible. How big is the earth? I had heard tales of one of my
countryman sailing east to make his way across to find a better trade route.
Everyone said he'd fall off the world. I thought it nonsense at the time, but
people tend to be gullible by nature."
"It's
huge, but nothing compared to the universe."
He
stopped and tugged his beard. "Universe? Yes, I have missed much. I will have
to spare some time to look into all these things. But I digress. Which of these
self propelled carts is yours?"
Edward
showed him the old Alpha. He walked around it without commenting for a few
moments. That he looked up. "I find it rather pleasing to look at. But is it
not rather small for five bodies?"
"I wasn't expecting to have a troop
to haul around. I got it because we needed a means of travel for me and Maggie.
The twins here were an unexpected bonus. And now there's you as well. We didn't
come here expecting to find you alive you know."
"I suppose then, under the
circumstances, you may be excused. But if you didn't think I was still alive,
why did you bother coming? Seriously now, why?"
Maggie spoke up. "Because I wanted
to come. We are from far away, and after learning about there being more rings,
I thought that maybe there would be a hint somewhere at your tomb."
"A hint at my tomb? Why would I do
that? Because my tomb would be the only part of my legacy people would still
have to remember me by?"
"No, I guess not. A lot of your
works are still around today." Then she stopped. "Hey, we found you didn't we?"
He smiled. "Yes you did. But I am
now left to wonder what the point of your discovery of my preservation chamber
was. I don't see there being any great need for my services. It seems your
present world has more to offer you than I do."
"But you're Leonardo da Vinci!"
"And you are Maggie Peterson. Never
shortchange yourself young lady. It's the worst mistake you can make. After
all, I am the bastard son of a peasant woman!"
She actually blushed. "I guess so.
What we really need to know is about the rings. Why were they made? And who
were they made for?"
"Child, I think that we will need
to find a better place to discuss this. Since your vehicle seems to be rather
small for so many, might I suggest we find some alternate means of locomotion?"
Edward was feeling embarrassed. He
really should have bought something more practical; but how was he to know?"
"I can sell this one and buy
something larger."
"I see up and down the line here
that there are more practical devices than yours. But I think I can help now,
rather than waiting for you to barter yours for a bigger one. Follow me."
Before they took off after him, Edward popped the trunk and they took what they
had left to their names and then locked the car back up. Edward gave a sigh as
they left it behind. "It was nice knowing ya!" he called back to it.
An old bearded man, a young man, a
girl and two wolf-like dogs made their way down along the river. After a while
Leonardo stopped and surveyed the area. "Damn. The landscape has changed a lot
since my time. I don't suppose you two would be so kind as to lend me your
rings?"
Since they were on their fingers at
the moment, it wasn't a problem. They handed them over. He slipped them on the
same hand as his and waved it around a little. He seemed to home in on
something and began tearing away brush and dirt. A few feet down he found a
brass ring, about the size of a small wheel. He pulled it outwards and twisted
it clockwise. There was a clang. Then the dirt started to move. The river wall
gave way as doors opened up.
Maggie tugged in his slightly dirty
tunic. "What is this?"
"My boat. I never got an
opportunity to get it into the water, and the king said I had to hide it lest
it fall into enemy hands."
The doors creaked open and stopped.
The master stepped in and with a werewolf roar pushed out his boat. It was big
enough for six or seven people. It had a series of paddles on both sides, and a
crank and gear assembly in the middle. And
remarkably, it appeared to be in the same condition as when he had hidden it
away. Of course, the gaping hole in the ground hiding the secret room was going
to be noticed, but there was nothing that could be done for that now.
Before he gave it one last heave,
he hollered at them to get aboard. They did, and with their weight in the
front, it overbalanced and slid down the embankment into the River Loire. The
master jumped in the stern and settled on a bench. The current caught the craft
and set it in motion down the river. He grabbed the rudder and steered it
around the bridge abutments.
"If you're in a rush, then I
suggest we take turns operating the device which runs it. Otherwise, I think we
can allow the river the take us at its leisure."
Everyone agreed that the speed they
were going was fine.
"There will be another town down
the river where we can get out and perhaps you can find another one of your
auto-mobile devices that will fit all of us. I am most fascinated by the
concept of a self propelled cart. In the meantime, I would suggest we get better
acquainted. And that goes for you two as well." He was talking to the twins.
Edward got outfits for them as best
he was able from their luggage, and soon Emile and Corinne were dressed. It
wasn't a great fit, but they were clothed. Leonardo handed the rings back. "Why
are you really here?" This was directed to Edward.
"We told you. There was this guy,
this Cardinal Medici, who was in control of a bunch of werewolf hunters. He was
looking for the rings. I had mine from home, and somehow one of the hunters
found out about it. We got Maggie's from his storeroom, along with the empty
box you managed to get open . All we really wanted to do was to make our life
safe again."
"Yes, yes. You alluded to some of
this earlier. That's what took you to Rome. But why here, to Amboise? I find it
unlikely that you would come just to seek out my grave. If you were expecting a
dead man, what would you have possibly gained from it?"
Maggie answered a bit sharply. "I
wanted to see where you were buried. And Like I said before, I thought that
maybe I could find a clue about the rings!"
"Yes, the rings. It always seems to
come down to the rings."
"I beg your pardon," asked Edward.
"The rings. From the beginning they
have been as much a bane as they have been a boon. And to think I pulled
Lorenzo Ghiberti out of his retirement in Grecia to help me to create them."
No one knew who he was talking
about, but they politely deferred asking him at the moment. It probably didn't
matter who the man was anyway. Just some long dead metal smith.
"The Baetylus had been damaged. I
hope you know a little bit about it. It was nothing to be worshiped, and yet it
was. Those who knew its true power refused to give that information away, not
that I think it would have mattered. It was only to the kind that it would
provide healing, among other things. The Medici's got their hands on fragments
of it, after the stone was damaged. They, like me, had the blood of the kind
running through their veins. And they wanted a ring created from the stone
pieces, to provide them with a means of defense against opposing forces."
"Only one ring?"
"Yes child, only one. But I didn't
feel right crafting only one. So I acquired the entire mass of the rock. After
it went missing, I created the story that it was buried for safe keeping. Let
them look for it in vain was my thought. In the end, we were able to create ten
rings. Many snapped and shattered during the process. Whatever metals were in
that stone, they did not like being handled roughly. This was no gold or silver
(here he shuddered) to be worked with a hammer and die. This stuff took great
heat to melt, and great time. A week of continuous stoking was required before
the rock melted. Then, once it melted,
we could not get it to cool down again. Obstinate stuff!"
"However, that did make
experimenting with it easier. In the end, we poured some of it into a tubular
mold. It took two days to solidify, and the day after we were able to slide the
form out. It took days to cut the rings apart from the whole. Several broke,
but we ended up with ten. I gave one, in the box I specially designed for it to
the Medici's. One I kept for myself, one
I gave to Lorenzo, with a box just for him, and that left seven. I crafted
boxes for each one depending on whom their recipients were and distributed them
quietly."
"What would happen if someone wore
all the rings at once?"
"Nothing. Leastwise, nothing
spectacular. As you know, the ring protects against silver and other harmful
agents. It also enhances the mind of the one wearing it, as long as they are of
the kind. It also seems to enhance the transformation process. I never played
around too much with it. To be honest, I never transformed that much. There was
rarely a chance to kick back and enjoy a good romp."
"why did you were the three rings
back there?"
"Because the more metal there is,
the more I can sense things I am looking for. Don't ask me to explain it. It
just is."
"But what about eating people?"
"What?" The master looked genuinely
alarmed. "Who does such a thing?"
"We do. I do. Well, used to. I
couldn't eat regular food before the ring."
"Dear me. That is awful. I know
that several members of the kind did kill, but never as a source of food." He
was speaking in French, allowing the two without rings to understand him, as
well as the twins. At times he would translate what the others were saying.
Emile had been sitting quietly, in
awe of the presence of the great man. "Sir, what they say is true. Meat such as
lamb and pork do not agree with use. Eating normal food would be such a great
thing. We would love to have a ring for ourselves, even to share!" Corinne
nodded shyly, agreeing with her brother.
Leonardo patted his own ring. "We
know of three my young wards. I would gladly give you mine, but for the moment
I believe it behooves me to keep it on my person. We have a box that may
contain a ring, but opening it may prove problematic. So I guess for now, when
it comes time to eat, I shall share with you. I don't wish to be party to
murder, even if it might be for the good of the kind."
He turned to Maggie and Edward.
"How long has this been a problem; the eating of the flesh? In my day, there
was no such problem."
They both shrugged simultaneously.
"We don't know. Neither of us had any information until recently, and the only
source, the Taborum, never mentioned it."
"Then the book is pointless.
Information is power. If there was some point in time where the kind became
infected with something, it would have helped to have it documented."
"Infected?"
"Is that so thought provoking?
Disease in my day was rampant. I studied the body to better understand both how
it worked and how it might be treated. I was no doctor, but then again, once I
had the ring, I needed no doctor. "
Maggie made a sound like a snort.
"Yeah. About that. I thought you died."
"You were supposed to. The world
was meant to mourn me and forget. What sort of story did they tell?"
"That you died with you head in the
king's lap."
"That's a good story. Simple,
poignant, and totally fabricated."
"What really happened?"
"Oh, I was getting old, in my own
way, and I wanted to call it quits. While I still had life left in me, I
devised my cooling apparatus using some of the metal left over from making the
rings. It has many properties I did not have time to fully come to appreciate,
I'm sure. Metal from outside to confines of Earth! Who knows what value it
has?" He sighed.
"But as I was saying, I was feeling
old and much put upon. Everyone wanting this or that created. Even my friend
the king was badgering me for technical toys. A lion! He wanted a mechanical
walking lion! I told him to get one from a menagerie. He didn't take kindly to
my jest."
Edward cut in. "Is that what we saw
in your workshop?"
"Yes, I was working on it. It just
seemed to be below me to manufacture toys. So I made my chamber. And I made it
so that no one could get it open without a few of the rings. I didn't want just
any fools waking me up. I figured a hundred years or so might pass. But I guess
my message was never read."
"Message?"
"Yes, in my journals. I guess
that's the problem with writing backwards and in code. No one is smart enough
to figure it out. And then you four come across me entirely by accident. Even
if you had purpose to your discovery, I was not what you were expecting to
find. So now I am at a loss as to what I will do with my remaining years. I
don't think that a man a half millennia out of date will be of much use to
anyone."
Maggie stood up, rocking the boat.
"Now who's talking nonsense? I have hours worth of questions to ask you. And
there is a lot you can tell us that has apparently been lost to the ages. So do
us the favor of stifling your self-degradation. You are still one of the most
famous men..."
He coughed. "The kind, please."
"Fine. One of the smartest of the
kind to have ever lived. So clam up on the negativity!"
"Clam up?" He looked at her before
laughing. "Your words and mannerism amuse me. Yes, I believe you are correct
regardless of how you state it. I will travel with you and advise you as you
best need it. So where are you off to next?"
Edward looked at Maggie. "Are you
still going to try it?"
"I don't know. It seems like we can
have a lot of information here in front of us. Running off to Russia now seems
stupid."
Leonardo knit his bushy brows.
"Russia?"
Edward was stuck. How could he
explain Russia? It was a modern name, he was sure, and the whole concept of
communism and Stalin and Lenin, was going to be beyond his ability to explain. Even
things like the tsar and Bolsheviks would take a book to comprehend. And that
was about all he knew about Russian history.
Maggie smiled. "Maybe you knew of
it as Kievan
Rus?"
"Oh ho! The land of the Mongols! I
never did get to meet any of the kind from there. It was said they had powers
we did not. I would love to meet one of them, if they still exist in this
time."
Maggie did a little bow. "Then you have
met one I guess, though I was born outside of that place. I have it on good
authority that my ancestors came from there."
He returned her bow, rocking the boat
even more. "Then I am all the more please to make your acquaintance young
lady."
After that, they fell to talking about
other things. Eventually, Edward took the hand crank, and summoning his
strength, if not his form, he propelled them down the river until they got to
Tours. There, they docked the boat, amid many stares, and found a hotel with
suitable accommodations. After that, it was the matter of getting some food and
some rest. Things were only looking weirder for their future, and Edward wanted
to rest up before it did.