9 ‘They’re elusive,’ Val finally said. ‘Secretive to a fault, and yes, I am well aware of the irony of my calling them secretive when we are all employed by a woman whose sole identifiable presence consists of a disembodied voice and an old-fashioned mode of address. Nonetheless. Two days of digging and we don’t have much. ‘We know that Ancestria Magicka was formed last June, but we only know that because there was a brief press release about it in the Magickal Herald at the end of June. It described the organisation as “formed for the efficient, professional retrieval of artefacts of great cultural value” or something to that effect, and it puts a nice shine on what they do, but it didn’t take long for them to develop a reputation for the kind of efficiency that consists more of smash-a