“That was the most reckless, irresponsible, bone headed thing that you’ve ever done, and we all know how much that says!” Andrew snapped after they’d landed at Fort Estron. He didn’t seem to notice Lord Justin approaching them with a worried expression. Anna hurried over to the lord to explain the situation as Andrew continued, “Did you hear them? They thought we were an invasion! Bad enough that you accepted that duel! No, you had to call the dragon in, too!”

“Invasion?” Lord Justin managed to ask.

“The bandits’ employer challenged Peter to a duel,” Anna explained. “Since he was winning, their mage cheated and blamed us. We had to call Jarnvaror in to get out.”

Lord Justin’s face was pale. “So they believed you cheated in the duel?”

Anna nodded.

“We were there for information. You just needed to be patient, Peter! For heaven’s sake, we could have followed the man, and there would be no need for any of the fighting!”

“You don’t know that!” Peter interrupted. “Blondie is probably a mage, too, right? He could have just vanished on us and-“

“You don’t know that!” Andrew hurled the words back at Peter. “And thanks to you just jumping in, we won’t be able to learn anything else in the city.”

“Learn anything? You won’t be able to set foot there ever again!” Lord Justin said. “They may demand your return to them for trial and execution as criminals, and if we don’t comply it will strain the relationship between us and them even more!” The Lord slumped, but not finding anything to lean against, he staggered. “My job is going to be so much harder…”

“Criminals of Nuidia?” Andrew repeated. He spun back to his brother. “You see? This is what charging in gets us!”

“If they didn’t cheat it would have worked!”

“They’re bandits! Why would you think they wouldn’t cheat?”

“I thought the guards were watching them!”

Anna tried to step between the brothers. “Guys, calm down,” she pleaded.

“The bandits are locals!” Andrew said. “The guards assumed they knew the rules. I would have. They were watching us!”

“Or they could have watched the bandits more closely,” Peter argued.

Anna rubbed her bracelet, wishing Halcyon would help calm them down. But the blue Wisps were now helping the yellow. Their influence seemed subdued, as if they were so focused on one another that there was nothing to seep into the people around them. The Wisps pulsed, and a few of the yellow were starting to change color. Some were turning blue, but the one closest to the brothers was shifting to orange.

“Guys!” Anna called. The brothers continued their argument. Anna stepped between them and tugged hard on their arms, yanking the pair off balance.

“What?” they demanded.

“Stop talking, both of you,” Anna said. She pointed to the Wisps.

“I don’t see…” Peter began. Then he frowned. “That one wasn’t orange before, was it?”

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“We influence them, too, remember?” Anna said. She looked between the brothers. Andrew folded his arms over his chest and looked away. Peter only frowned and kept looking at the Wisp, almost like he was willing it to change back, or to become blue.

“There’s no point in us fighting,” Anna said. “We didn’t do well in there. We didn’t know anything.”

“Exactly!” Andrew agreed. “Which is why we should have held back and—”

“Probably,” Anna said. “If we’d thought a bit more, we might have come up with a better plan. One where we might have learned more.” She saw Peter frown. She continued, “But I don’t think so.”

“What?” Andrew asked.

“Peter shouldn’t have just dived in without thinking, but I believe accepting the duel was our only chance once they’d seen us. If we’d refused, the mage would have just disappeared anyway. I don’t think the guards would have let us follow him. Once the duel started, I probably should have just kept accusing the bandits of cheating instead of trying to counter it. The guards might have sided with us. I don’t know.”

The brothers looked at each other. “I guess it doesn’t matter, does it,” Andrew grumbled. “Our mission to stop the bandit’s down here is over. And a failure is a failure.”

“Maybe not,” Anna said. She held up Sakir’s bracer. “Remember, I managed to get this away from them. And after their last attempt at raiding, they probably won’t be eager to try again.”

“Hopefully,” Lord Justin said. “Hopefully. If it was a trap for you, then the trap is sprung and they missed. Still, Nuidia will not be pleased.” The lord put his face in his hands. “Ambassadors and bureaucrats… The next few weeks are going to be a nightmare for me.”

Andrew was looking more thoughtful now. “Inaros and Sakir weren’t the only bandits. There are probably others. I’d be surprised if old Blondie hadn’t hired more and given them Wisps as well. Their operations are still likely to continue,” Andrew said.

“Of course they are,” Lord Justin said.

“So, what?” Peter asked. “Do we stay until we’ve got all the Wisps?”

Anna looked at the group of floating lights. She was sure Halcyon would want them to, if he could respond. And if Andrew was right and there were more bandits with Wisps in the area, their original mission was to deal with all of them. But there was something else they needed to do right away. She shook her head.

“They’ll count our mission as a failure if we go back now,” Andrew said. “After last time, I really don’t want to hear what Lady Thalia has to say.”

“Well, we managed to capture a large group of bandits, take their Wisps, and equip the local lord with them, so he can resist the bandits in the future,” Anna said.

All three men looked at her. “What?” they asked in unison.

Anna nodded, handing the young magician’s bracer to Lord Justin. “The Wisps are still bound to it,” Anna said. “I’ll unbind them before I leave, but I think I’ll be able to ask them to stay and protect all of you. They’ll still treat it like their home. That way, if there are more bandit’s using Wisps, you can deal with them on a more equal footing.”

“How?” The lord asked, taking the bracer with a look of confusion on his face. “I don’t know the first thing about magic.”

“You don’t need magic to work with the Wisps,” Anna said. She nodded to Peter. “He can a bit, and I could before I learned any magic. If you remain calm, they will, too, and they will help counter the influence of other Wisps.”

A thoughtful expression came over Lord Justin’s face as he looked at the bracer. “Resistance to their Wisps… Probably better with Frederick. Of course, if I was able to recruit an actual mage…”

“No!” Anna said. The Wisps shivered at the noise, and Justin took a step back. “No,” Anna repeated in a calmer voice. “Halcyon and a few of the others have helped me cast magic before, but I’m not sure we should try asking it of them or using them like stores of energy. It feels too close to what the Wisp Steelers are doing. Like it could hurt them. And stopping that is the whole reason we took up this quest.”

“It was?” Peter asked.

Anna rolled her eyes at him. “I set out to help them, remember?” She sighed, seeing Peter’s grin. “Either way. If Lord Justin think’s this will help deal with any remaining groups of Wisps down here, we should probably return to Woadrok to make our report.”

“That’s another problem, though,” Andrew said. “We haven’t learned anything to report.”

“Aside from catching the face of one of the Wisp Steelers,” Peter added.

“And maybe his name, too,” Anna said. The brothers frowned at her. She elaborated for them. “I was sure I’d seen his face before when we first bumped into him,” Anna said. “By the time he ran off, I think I remembered where. We’re going to need to go back to Prohr to pay our friend Lady Nonell a call.”