Darian leaned back in his chair as his mind considered the options. Whether magic was required or whether there was some sham going on with that mask, he had to decide.“Jerry, why don’t you go check if the mask is made of magnets or any other material? Meanwhile, you can take a group of intelligent craftsmen with you to investigate what is going on,” Darian said.Jerry nodded his head and bowed slightly as he extended both hands and folded them. “Yes.”“In the meantime, I have something to show us all.” Darian spread his hands on the table, and a scroll appeared. Picking it up, he said, “You all remember when I left for the mountains for a while, and when the Rebel Master took over? I obtained this—it is a map, and it happens to mark all the resources my ancestors stored up before the Eagle Clan was destroyed.”Noel rose to his feet and spread the map across the table. It was a large map, covering nearly half of the massive surface. The men rose to their feet, as did Darian. Their ey

Helena’s walk was slow, and she kept thinking of what Holga had come to do. Had Holga come to make sure that she got what she wanted from Darian in the guise of a reward? Maybe Holga felt that Helena was too slow and had come to speed it up. Or maybe Holga had come to cause trouble. Whichever it was, Helena would find out when she reached the place.Darian had been waiting a while for Helena, and he was wondering if she was taking this long because she was with Noel. Noel had told him that he would try not to meet privately with Helena until Darian could talk to her, but it seemed he had gone back on his promise; he simply could not resist seeing her.Darian considered the woman before him. She had lines of straight white hair coloring her black hair, making it resemble the plumage of penguins huddled together. Holga was wearing a red dress. The top was full of beads, and she gave a smile each time Darian raised his eyes to briefly look at her. Darian had invited Jerry to be present a