The city of London sweltered in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that scorched the metropolis. An even more unpleasant force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial effluents had transformed London's lifeblood into a nauseating odor. The stench was all-consuming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone

The year 845 AD. A chill wind whistled across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent emanating from salt and fear. The Norsemen were amongst us, a ravenous swarm of warriors seeking plunder. Their longships, like serpents, sliced through the waters, their flags fluttering in the wind. A city once peaceful now trembled beneath the shadow of Rag