“It is a long and confusing story, Dr. Darwin. Bear with me if it seems at first as though I am meandering.”
Food and brandy had restored Thaxton considerably. Both men had made good use of the hamper of food and drink balanced between them on their knees. Darwin wiped his greasy hands absentmindedly on his woollen shawl, and turned his head to face Richard Thaxton.
“Take your time. Detail is at the heart of diagnosis, and in the absence of the patient—since it is clear that you are not he—the more that you can tell me, the better.”
“Not ‘he,’ Doctor. She. Three years ago my wife, Anna, went to see Dr. Warren. At that time we were living in the heart of London, hard by Saint Mary-le-Bow. She had been feeling lacking in strength, and was troubled by a racking cough.”
“With bleeding?”
“Thank God, no. But Dr. Warren was worried that she might become phthisic. He recommended that we move away from the London style of life, to one with more of country ways and fresh air.”
Darwin nodded approvingly. “Warren and I have seldom disagreed on diagnosis, and less still on treatment. You took his advice?”
“Of course. We moved back to my family home, Heartsease, near Milburn in Cumbria.”
“I know the area. Up in the high fell country. Clean air, and clear sun. A good choice. But did it fail?”
“Not for my wife’s general health, no. She became stronger and more robust. I could see the improvement, month by month. Then—about one year ago—there came another problem. She began to see visions.”
Erasmus Darwin was silent for a long moment, while the carriage rolled steadily along the graveled roads. “I see,” he said at last. “Invisible to others, I take it?”
“Invisible to all, save Anna. Our house stands north of Milburn, facing out across Cross Fell. Late at night, in our bedroom, when the Helm stands on the fell and the wind is strong from the north, she sees phantom lights moving on the fell slopes, and hears crying in the wind.”
“You have looked for them yourself?”
“I, and others. I have brought our servants upstairs to look also. We see nothing, but Anna is persistent.”
“I see.” Darwin paused again, reflective, then shrugged. “Even so, it does not sound like a matter for serious concern. She believes that she can see what you cannot. What harm is there in a will-o’-the-wisp? It does not interfere with your life.”
“It did not.” Thaxton turned directly to Darwin, intense and troubled. “Until three months ago. Then Anna found a book in Durham telling of the early history of our part of the country. Cross Fell had another name, long ago. It was known as Fiends’ Fell. According to legend, it was renamed Cross Fell when St. Augustine came with a cross to the fell and drove out the fiends. But Anna says that she has seen the fiends herself, on two occasions. By full moonlight, and only when the Helm is on the fell.”
“Twice now you have mentioned the Helm. What is it?”
“Dense cloud, like a thunderhead. It sits as a bank, crouching over the top of Cross Fell. It does not move away, even when the wind sweeping from the top of the fell is strong enough in Milburn to overturn carts and uproot trees. Anna says that it is the source of the fiends.”
Darwin nodded slowly. The two men rode on in silence for a while, both deep in thought.
“Nothing you have said so far suggests the usual mental diseases,” Darwin said at last. “But the human mind is more complicated than we can guess. Tell me, has your wife any other fears or fancies? Any other fuel for her beliefs?”
“Only more legends.” Thaxton shrugged apologetically. “There are other legends of the fell. According to the writings of Thomas of Appleby, in Roman times a great king, Odirex, or Odiris, lived in the high country of the fells. He acquired a great treasure. Somehow, he used it to banish the Romans from that part of the country, completely, so that they never returned.”
“What was his treasure?”
“The legend does not tell. But according to Thomas of Appleby, Odirex hid his treasure on Cross Fell. Local folk say that it is there to this day, guarded by the fiends of the fell. Anna says that she has seen the guardians; that they are not of human form; and that they live on Cross Fell yet, and will sometime come down again.”
Darwin had listened to this very closely, and was now sitting upright on the hard seat of the carriage. “A strange tale, indeed, and one that I have not heard before in all my reading of English myth and legend. Odirex, eh? A name to start trains of thought, if we will but remember our Latin. Odii Rex—the King of Hate. What else does Thomas of Appleby have to say about the King of Hate’s Treasure?”
“Only that it was irresistible. But surely, Dr. Darwin, you are not taking these tales seriously? They are but the instruments that are turning my wife’s mind away from sanity.”
“Perhaps.” Darwin relaxed and hunched low in his seat. “Perhaps. In any case, I would have to see your wife to make any real decision as to her condition.”
“I can bring her here to see you, if you wish. But I must do it under some subterfuge, since she does not know that I am seeking assistance for her condition. As for money, I will pay any fee that you ask.”
“No. Money is not an issue. Also, I want to see her at your home in Milburn.” Darwin appeared to have made up his mind about something. “Look, I now have the responsibilities of my practice here, and as you can see they are considerable. However, I have reason to make a visit to York in a little more than two weeks’ time. I will have another doctor, my locum tenens, working here in my absence. If you will meet me in York, at a time and place that we must arrange, we can go on together to Milburn. Then perhaps I can take a look at your Anna, and give you my best opinion on her—and on other matters, too.”
Darwin held up his hand, to stem Thaxton’s words. “Now, no thanks. We are almost arrived. You can show your appreciation in a more practical way. Have you ever assisted in country medicine, two hours after midnight? Here is your chance to try it.”
“The roof of England, Jacob. Look there, to the east. We can see all the way to the sea.”
Darwin was leaning out of the coach window, holding his wig on with one hand and drinking in the scenery, as they climbed slowly up the valley of the Tees, up from the eastern plain that they had followed north from the Vale of York. Jacob Pole shivered in the brisk east wind that blew through the inside of the coach, and huddled deeper into the leather greatcoat that hid everything up to his eyes.
“It’s the roof, all right, blast it. Close that damn window. No man in his right mind wants to be out on the roof in the middle of December. I don’t know what the devil I’m doing up here, when I could be home and warm in bed.”
“Jacob, you insisted on coming, as you well know.”
“Maybe. You can be the best doctor in Europe, Erasmus, and the leading inventor in the Lunar Society, but you still need a practical man to keep your feet on the ground.”
Darwin grinned, intoxicated by the clear air of the fells. “Of course. The mention of treasure had nothing to do with it, did it? You came only to look after me.”
“Hmph. Well, I wouldn’t go quite so far as to say that. Damn it all, Erasmus, you know me. I’ve dived for pearls off the eastern Spice Islands; I’ve hunted over half the Americas for El Dorado; I’ve scrabbled after rubies in Persia and Baluchistan; and I’ve dug for diamonds all the way from Ceylon to Samarkand. And what have I got out of it? A permanent sunburn, a bum that’s been bitten by all the fleas in Asia, and a steady dose of malaria three times a year. But I could no more resist coming here, when I heard Thaxton talk about Odirex’s treasure, than you could stop… philosophizing.”