"I'm going to jump," said Jack.

The driver looked aside at him. "You're daft," he said.

Jack just motioned him to keep after the coach ahead. They were closing fast; the other coach was rolling along at a quick trot, while Jack's was bouncing and clattering at a full gallop. Jack stood up on the coachman's seat, balancing easily atop the jolting carriage. The road wasn't wide enough to allow two coaches abreast, so he'd have to jump from behind. Fortunately, he knew a jumping spell that would work-as long as he didn't misjudge his leap and sprawl in the road in front of his own coach.

"Be ready to rein in when I jump," he told the driver. "I'm going to stop the other coach if I can."

The horses in Jack's team raced up behind the other coach, slowing only as the animals realized that the rolling obstacle in front of them was not going to get out of their way. At that moment, Jack worked the spell and leaped forward, sailing clear over his own team and alighting with a thump on the roof of Illyth's carriage. He dropped into the coachman's seat and shoved the other driver off the bench without ceremony. The man grunted in surprise and tumbled off into the ditch at the side of the road, rolling over and over. Jack seized the reins and hauled back, slowing the team. Then he vaulted to the ground and yanked open the carriage door.

Illyth screamed. Jack stood dumbfounded, staring into his own face. A short, wiry man dressed in black and gold ceased an assault on Illyth to leap out of the coach, knocking Jack flat. Jack scrambled to his feet as Illyth hurriedly covered herself with her torn dress. He turned just in time to get the other Jack's boot in the center of his chest, hammering him back against the carriage. Jack responded with a spell of magical energy that knocked down his opponent and drew the sword at his side. The other Jack mirrored his movement, drawing his own sword. They circled, looking for an opening.

Jack had a long moment to study his opponent. The other Jack was his identical twin, except there seemed to be a dark cast to his features, a hint of dusky gray that didn't show in the shadows but became clear when the other Jack happened to step into the long, slanting rays of sunlight from the setting sun. Jack shook his head in disbelief.

"Sir, you seem to have borrowed my features and my date. Who are you, and what offense have I offered you?"

The shadow Jack grinned an idiot's grin and leaped forward, stabbing murderously here and there with his blade. Jack yelped and dodged, parrying the attacks as best he could while he gave ground, circling behind the coach. The other fellow didn't have a great amount of skill, but he was blindingly fast and exceedingly agile, leaping and jumping with the energy of a madman as he slashed and stabbed.

"Jack! What in the world is going on here?" Illyth appeared behind the shadow Jack, still holding up her dress with one hand. "Who-?" The noblewoman halted in amazement, watching the duel between Jack and his twin.

"Illyth, get back!" Jack cried.

He met a high swing by ducking under it, then rolled to one side to avoid a follow-up thrust that would have gutted him had he been a hair slower. He responded with a couple of wicked jabs in the general vicinity of the shadow Jack's midsection, but his evil clone merely rolled aside. They exchanged another blinding pass of sword-play in which neither could penetrate the defenses of the other, and then sprang apart.

"Insolent mimic!" Jack snarled. "Who are you? Why do you steal my likeness?"

The shadow Jack merely grinned and worked a spell of invisibility, vanishing from sight.

"He can do that?" Jack asked in amazement. He worked the same spell and vanished likewise, stepping softly away from the last place he'd stood. Matching him in physical skill and agility was one thing; that made the shadow Jack a dangerous adversary, but one that Jack could defeat. But if the shadow-clone actually shared all of his abilities, all of his knowledge, all of his magical strength, Jack couldn't imagine how he could beat the fellow.

Illyth whirled, looking for some sign of either one. "Jaer Kell Wildhame, if you've left me standing in the middle of this dusty road with a torn dress and no escort for the Game tonight, I am going to be quite upset. I demand an explanation!"

The dusty road! Jack smiled and froze in place, looking carefully at the ground. If his opponent was still moving-there! Stealthy footfalls, right behind Illyth! Jack hurled himself forward and swung his sword in a waist-high arc. His invisibility spell failed as he broke the enchantment by striking out, but he was rewarded with the unexpected clang of steel and a soft resistance to his blow. The rapier wouldn't cause much of a wound wielded edge first, but droplets of dark blood spattered the earth, and a slim blade appeared in the dirt, skidding to a halt.

"Hah! I have disarmed you, villain!" Jack gloated. He snatched up the other weapon and swung wildly with both blades, groping for contact with his adversary.

Instead his adversary fled. Jack caught sight of a couple of quick footfalls in the dust, and then the brush and branches up on one side of the road rustled violently. Droplets of blood marked his assailant's trail-but the blood drops lasted only a moment before sizzling away in some strange dark vapor.

"Come back here!" Jack roared. "You have much to answer for, my friend!" He ran a couple of steps in the general direction of his foe's retreat, swinging aggressively, but there was no sign of the shadow Jack. "Curses!"

"Is he gone?" Illyth asked.

"I'm afraid so. He ran off, as if to mock the character of that noble hero whose likeness he so impudently stole," Jack said. He leaned against the carriage, suddenly tired beyond belief from the strenuous duel. "Do you have any idea of who that was?"

Illyth rounded on him with a look of such anger and amazement that Jack took a step back. "In the names of all the gods, why should I know who that was? He was your identical twin! Are you telling me that you have no idea why someone who looks exactly hike you showed up at my doorstep, ushered me into the coach, and started pawing at me like a lovesick orc?"

Jack shook his head, although he couldn't shake a very odd sense of guilt over his double's actions, as if he were somehow responsible for what anyone who looked like him did. "Dear Illyth, I am many things, not all of them reputable, but I have never sought to force my attentions on anyone. And I would never do so to one of my dearest friends. I am at a complete loss to explain who that person was or what he was doing." He paused, and then added, "I am just glad that I was able to drive him off before he did you any harm."

The noblewoman looked down at her dress. She had to hold it with one hand to cover her bosom. "Who would want to impersonate you? And why would he want to abduct me? What can this possibly mean?"

"I suspect that this stone was aimed at me and not at you. I seem to be collecting enemies at a very unhealthy pace."

"Which of your enemies would take the trouble to impersonate you so perfectly?" Illyth asked. "Tell me a name, and I'll see to it that the authorities arrest him. I have some friends in high places, and I want that… that person locked up safely in a cell somewhere."

Who, indeed? Jack thought for a moment. The House Kuldath? Zandria? Morgath and Saerk didn't have the means or motive to strike at Illyth, and creating doppelgangers to strike at those close to her rivals simply was not Zandria's style. The Knights of the Hawk? Marcus and Ashwillow would certainly have nothing to do with such a scheme. Iphegor? Now there was a possibility, although it seemed overly subtle for the necromancer, and Jack couldn't imagine that even a black-hearted scoundrel like Iphegor would willingly strike at Illyth to get at Jack.