Episode 4: For the Lost Leonardo, Chapter 5
"Leonardo da Vinci!" Jacob's voice went up about an octave. "I'm talkin' to Leonardo da Vinci! The actual Leonardo da Vinci!"
"And he's off," quipped Ezekiel, sighing and leaning back against the door frame with folded arms.
"My word, sir it is an honour to meet you, I mean an honour, really!" Jacob hurried forward, grabbing the old man's hand and shaking it.
"So it would appear, young man," winced da Vinci. "However if I could be left with some working fingers: it does so help when one has to hold a paintbrush or pencil. Thank you. Yes, to answer your question: it is indeed I. I am truly Leonardo da Vinci, the actual Leonardo da Vinci, as you say. I am not, as you may have perceived, a hologram. Nor am I an impostor, as you have said yourself my work testifies. Nor, indeed, have I travelled through time or been magically or scientifically reincarnated, although I do believe there may be a bunch of geneticists out there who would like to try it should they ever track down my earthly remains. Given that they're standing right here and more able to object to the matter than said scientists may expect, I dare say they'll have a hard time of it."
"Excuse me, maestro, but how are you here?" Flynn interjected. "You didn't just vanish into obscurity. History records your death at the Castle of Cloux, second of May fifteen nineteen. You were buried at Amboise on the twelfth of August!"
The old man chuckled, stroking his beard and looking off into a distant past. "Yes, I did rather enjoy that little ceremony. It is not often one gets the chance to be late for one's own funeral, but it was necessary to avoid the crowds. Not that they would likely have known me. Amazing how few people realise that a talent for painting faces can apply itself to ones own as much as to a canvas."
"So you didn't die, then," summarised Ezekiel. "How?"
"You are the Librarian, I presume," said Leonardo, turning to Flynn. "Is this young man your Guardian?"
"Actually..." Jacob began, a broad grin splitting his face and lighting up his eyes.
"Actually we're all Librarians," cut in Flynn, putting a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "Bit of a change in the way things are done these days. How do you...?"
"Know about the Library?" Leonardo finished. "If you are Librarians, that should be easy enough to work out."
"Leonardo da Vinci was the greatest mind of his time," said Stone. "Of all time, arguably. If there was a vacancy in his lifetime, he was getting a letter!"
"He was a Librarian," concluded Ezekiel. "Like us."
"Well said, young man," beamed Leonardo. "Now I do believe you know decidedly more about my situation than I do of yours, and, moreover, you now know that I can be trusted."
"Forgive me maestro," said Flynn, again preventing Jacob's speech. "You may not be aware of this but not all Librarians have ended up siding with the good guys. Only two Librarians that I know of so far have walked away from the job. One to marry his true love and the other to become head of the very organisation he had been employed to fight against."
"And one to concentrate on his research," added Ezekiel.
"Oh?" Leonardo's ears pricked up and he looked over to Ezekiel, regarding him thoughtfully for a moment, then turned back to Flynn and a still gaping, grinning Jacob. "I take your point, Librarian, but, given that I already know your stations, would it hurt so much more to give me your names? Besides: if I were evil, would the Library have sent you my cry for help?"
"Your what?" Stone frowned.
"Why are you here?" Leonardo asked him patiently.
Stone held out a hand for Ezekiel's clippings book and turned it to the day's page. The articles glowed on the pages. He showed it to Leonardo. The artist nodded and turned it back, pointing out the obituary.
"I wrote that, young man," said Leonardo. "Suggest you read it closely. You may find it contains more than you expect. What is this contraption anyway?"
"It's a clippings book," Ezekiel explained as Flynn and Stone poured over the page. "It picks mysteries for us to investigate. There's the main one at the Library, then the newer Librarians have one each. Usually it picks mysteries that need our own particular skills to solve. I had wondered why it gave this one to me, not Stone there, but now I know. It's not an art heist it's an artist heist!"
"Ah! A name!" Da Vinci cried, he looked to Jacob. "So you are Mr Stone, then, and you have a predilection for art, I take it?"
"Jacob Stone, sir, art historian," grinned Jacob, attempting to shake da Vinci's hand again and missing.
"And you?" Leonardo asked the youngest of the group.
"Ezekiel Jones, World Class Thief," intoned the ex-thief. "Also proficient in computer technology, escapology, and generally being awesome."
"Modest too," quipped the old man. He turned to Flynn. "And you?"
"Flynn Carson, Senior Librarian. Student of Learning."
"One who lives through his eyes, one who lives through his hands and one who lives through his brain," da Vinci summed up. "Three Librarians and do none of you pay attention to your heart?"
"Only when it comes to their girlfriends," grinned Ezekiel. Two pairs of eyes turned and glared at him this time. He shrugged and threw out his hands.
"Librarians with lovers, my word how things have changed," sniffed Leonardo with a sly smile. "And do these lovely ladies know what you men do for a living?"
"Mine is also a Librarian," grinned Jacob. He nodded at Flynn. "His is the Guardian."
"Women do make excellent Librarians," nodded da Vinci. "I never did think much of men who assumed they were incapable of anything besides breeding and keeping house. It says more about the man than the woman stuck with him in my opinion. As for a female Guardian, well, I knew a young woman in France whom I am certain would have made an excellent guardian. She certainly knew how to handle a sword. Intelligent too, and brave as a lion. I dare say her story is still told in some way."
"You still haven't told us what you're doing here, though," Flynn reminded him.
"It is simple enough," shrugged the artist. "I live here. I have done so since my arrival in the new world. It seemed the logical place to abscond to after the funeral. Nobody knew my face here and fewer would have the means to communicate such a wonder back to Europe. I was thrilled when the Library followed suit, centuries later."
"If you weren't working for the Library at the time, how did you know it had moved?" Jones asked.
"I spent a long, long time working for the Library, Mr Jones," he replied. "After so many years the effects, as you see, do not leave you easily. Nor does the connection to the source of that life force. I felt it fade a year or so ago. It returned to full force just a matter of months ago. Correct?"
"Correct," Flynn nodded. "Well, I guess that settles it, although I still don't get your obituary?"
"Really, Mr Carsen? You disappoint me," said Leonardo. "What kind of code-work am I famous for?"
"Mirror writing," said Flynn, "but there isn't any... Oh, I see it now."
In the florid obituary the word "mirror" appeared seven times. Looking only at what immediately followed them, Flynn read the sentence "Help me, Librarian. Da Vinci."
"Fine," said Flynn. "Let's go home. Stone, stop grinning and call Jenkins. Let's get a door."
"No signal," frowned Stone, but the frown only lasted a moment.
"Me neither," sighed Jones, waggling his phone in mid-air.
"This room is insulated both scientifically and magically," da Vinci told them. "We need to get through the door on the other side before it will let us connect to the Library."
"Okay, fine then," said Ezekiel, nonplussed as always. "I'll just go pick that lock."
The other three men watched him go. Eventually Leonardo spoke up. "That young man challenges my inner calm."
"He challenges everyone's everything!" Stone growled.
"Got it!" Jones shouted through.
They all trooped through to the first room. Ezekiel had swung the door open and the sound of far off voices drummed through to their ears.
"Guess it is my mission after all," he grinned, ducking out through the door in time for Stone's swipe to miss him.
The gentlemen returned to the Library in safety and good fellowship, leading Leonardo into the office that, he proclaimed, had barely changed since his day. He picked up the small globe and threw it up in the air. It hung there, projecting the ley lines as always. Stone looked downcast.
"It just takes practise, time and a lot of contact with magic," breezed da Vinci.
The globe dropped obediently into da Vinci's palm. Three faces appeared at the mezzanine balustrade. Baird and Cassandra hurried down to greet their respective beaux and Ezekiel. Jenkins stayed where he was.
"What name do you go by now, my gentle, perfect friend?" Leonardo asked, looking up.
"Jenkins," replied the caretaker. "And there's a lot more than that you'll have to get caught up on!"
"Mr Carsen has offered to do just that," smiled the old master. "Indeed, I feel we should go do so right away. I would hate to get under your feet. It is much more crowded here than it was."
"Where were you?" Jenkins persisted. "He never told me."
"I asked him to tell no-one," shrugged Leonardo. "I was here, with my friend and protector. When he died I remained with his house and his son. Now the current son wants me dead like his father. I must find myself a new hiding place."
"The Library will make you a room if you ask it to," said Jenkins. "If you must disappear again, at least try to keep in touch this time."
"I did," da Vinci protested. "Merely not with yourself."
"Mr Jones, kindly show the maestro to the kitchen. He always looks famished. I am sure Mr Carsen will join him there presently," intoned Jenkins coldly, before turning away and disappearing into the shelves.
Without comment or argument, Ezekiel led the great Leonardo da Vinci out of the office and down the hall.
"Did you have a nice time, my darling," Flynn asked Eve. "Flowers chosen, dress bought, invitations sent?"
"You're helping me with the invitations, Flynn Carsen," she told him. "It's your wedding too."
"But you had fun terrorising Jenkins with your girly planning, organising and reorganising, yes?"
"More or less," Eve admitted. "One or two big surprises, but nothing we couldn't handle."
Unable to contain his excitement any longer, Jacob turned to Cassandra, eyes wide, smile beaming and finger pointing at the empty hallway.
"I just met Leonardo da Vinci," he whispered. "The actual Leonardo da Vinci!"