Thank you, dear reader Biblio, for suggesting that—as the Magic Quill reaches the big Five-Oh—we go back and summarize where the storyline has taken us so far, to help latecomers catch up. At first I was going to make a rude comeback like, “Why not try reading the column from the beginning and see if it makes any sense to you?” But then, I realized that this would be a good opportunity to “archive” the old numbers of the Magic Quill, and turn a new page, so to speak. So, with apologies to those of you who are eagerly waiting to find out what happens next, here is what has happened already:

Merlin’s tale continued…

“As the sound of locks being undone resounded through the vault, Don Pagliai stuffed something through a knothole in the crate where I was hidden. ‘Hurry,’ he said. ‘Hide this on yourself. It is one of the few things Il Comte did not take from us, and I have hoped until now that it might become useful. Perhaps it will serve you.’