Griffin heard a twig snap. He paused, and the others stopped behind him. 'Wait,' he whispered.
A growl in the woods...the wind broke from a swing of a sword...a scythe?
The mages reached for their swords at their belts. Unicorn scanned the trees. Pix's heart pounded. Everyone lifted lanterns to the trees.
A batch of trees suddenly broke and branches flung off their trunks. Several creatures shaped like wolves ran toward them, clawing at the ground as they went. Behind them, driving them on was a shadow mounted on a horse, a dark cloak waving behind his shoulders.
The mages dropped their lanterns. Phoenix swore under his breath. 'I thought we had seen the last of the doppelgangers since Rune Palace fell!'
Griffin drew his sword. Its rubies over the hilt glittered in lantern-light. 'Apparently not,' he said. He waved a hand before him and green vapor ran from the tips of his fingers.
Phoenix waved his free hand into a fist and a ball of red fire flickered in his clenched fingers.
Unicorn gripped the hilt of his silver sword. 'Ooh, this'll be fun.'
The animals raged toward them and the mages met them between the trees with swinging swords, magic charms, and eyes that have seen many battles such as this.

~

'Curse it,' Phoenix swore as they all stood back to back in a circle. 'Where do these things come from? They just keep coming!'
Griffin touched backs with his mages. 'Stand your ground,' he called to everyone.
'We can't!' Unicorn cried. 'There's no ground left!'
The dark wolves had surrounded them and each time the mages sliced them in two, they multiplied! Hundreds of these wolves surrounded the mages.
Finally, just before they were about to pounce, the doppelganger cried out and called his dogs. The wolves paused and waited as their master rode his black horse toward his captives. His head lowered, as if he looked at them from unseen eyes; words came from his voice, as if he spoke from an unseen mouth: 'You mages have a choice. Either come quietly with no struggle, or die where you stand.'
Unicorn frowned. 'That's not a choice, that's a double-edged sword.'
Pegasus looked at him. 'Is it just me, or do they want us dead?'
Unicorn thought over the doppelganger's words. 'It's you,' he said.
Griffin looked over his shoulder to them. 'Wishful thinking, Unicorn,' he said.
Unicorn shrugged. 'One can dream, right?'
'It's not the best time,' Griffin told him.
Pix looked to them. 'You wish, though.'
'That's my point,' Unicorn said.
Phoenix hissed at them. 'Griffin! Just answer him before he kills us.'
Griffin looked at the mounted doppelganger. 'What if we fight you?'
The shadow reached under his cloak and withdrew a long shining sword with a curved blade covered with thorns. The hilt was gold, with ribbon-dancing design around the handle. 'Then I shall kill you myself.'
Unicorn laughed. 'Five against one.'
The shadow gestured around to his wolves. 'Try five-hundred to five.' His voice gave away a smile that must have been spreading on his unseen lips. 'And I'm the only one who won't multiply if you kill me.'
Phoenix risked a step forward. He smiled rather sinisterly. 'Is that a challenge?'
The shadow regarded him carelessly. 'You dare? Do you want it to be?'
Phoenix twirled his sword in his palm. 'Yeah,' he offered.
Griffin put a hand on his shoulder, but Phoenix rolled it off and stepped closer to the doppelganger's dark horse. 'You and me, shadow. If I win, we go free. If you win'?' he shrugged. 'We go quietly.' He bowed courteously. 'Does that suit you?'
The doppelganger swung his foot around the saddle and slid off his mount. He waved the sword and all the wolves vanished in a black cloud that rose into the sky. He faced Phoenix squarely. 'Suit's me well,' he said and raised his sword to the mage.
Phoenix nodded and stepped back to raise his sword in the same manner.
Griffin pulled at his shoulder. 'Phoenix,' he warned, 'he kills you, we're all dead!' His voice lowered to a harsh whisper. 'You know that!'
Phoenix put a finger to the shadow. Hold on. He faced Griffin and put his sword's blade to his leader mage's throat. 'I know that very well, Griffin. That's why I am going to kill him. You don't truly believe I'll let myself die, do you?'
Griffin lifted his own sword to Phoenix's and pushed his blade away from his neck. 'Don't be so foolish, Phoenix. The future of the order rests on our shoulders.'
Phoenix lowered his sword from Griffin. He glared coldly into Griffin's green eyes. 'What future?' He turned away and faced his opponent.
Griffin cursed below his breath. He rubbed his neck and saw Unicorn do the same in the corner of his eye'?then Pix and Pegasus rubbed theirs as well.
Phoenix squared off with the shadow; the horse whined and backed away, possibly knowing the sight of a sword.
The shadow swung his sword casually and Phoenix matched him. He swung his own sword and the doppelganger caught it with his. This was simple mockery for the start of the challenge.
Then, without warning, the doppelganger circled around Phoenix and swung the blade at the mage's back.
Phoenix winced and stepped to one side from the scratch and the other mages each cried out.
Unicorn cursed openly and shouted at Phoenix. 'If you are going to kill this thing, Phoenix, now would be a convenient time.'
Phoenix circled with his foe. 'This is my fight,' he muttered.
Unicorn growled. 'It's ours too.'
Griffin stepped forward. 'We can fight him together!'
Phoenix pushed him back to the other mages and then he swiftly knelt to the ground and touched a blade of grass. Instantly, the grass caught on fire and the flames blazed into a heated ring around him and the doppelganger.
Griffin gasped and stood back from the flames that separated him and the others from Phoenix.
Pix clenched her fists. 'He's going to kill us!'
'I know, Pix!' Griffin called to her.
The ring of fire illuminated around Phoenix and the shadow. The flames reflected orange and red against their blades as they circled.
The doppelganger laughed out loud. 'You throw off your friends when you fight in your own pride.' His voice gave off that smile once more. 'I like that. You can join me, mage. And you can toss me off anytime you want, because I'll just do you the same dark deed.'
Phoenix raised his blade before his face, as if shielding it. 'I'd rather just replace you,' he said.
'We shall see, then.' The shadow swung his sword once more and Phoenix caught it in a parry.
The shadow swung his sword the other way and Phoenix twisted his wrist so his blade knocked the other's askew. He righted his blade and pierced the doppelganger in the dark shoulder.
The shadow recoiled but kept his guard. His form then twisted and melted, as if from the flames, but no'he was changing into a replica of Phoenix! He then wore the same red robes as the mage and looked just like him.
Phoenix glared at the mirror image. 'Afraid to face me as yourself?'
The other Phoenix laughed. 'No,' he said. 'I just wonder what moves you have. As you, I can use your own moves against you.' He swung his sword and Phoenix caught it.
The shadow then repeated the move that knocked his blade askew and this time he pierced Phoenix'but Phoenix turned and the blade caught the shield that hung from the mage's back, under his robes.
The doppelganger took a step back. 'You deceive!'
Phoenix faced him again and nodded. 'Your kind does all the time. It's time you got a taste of your own poison.'
The shadow hummed in thought. 'You mages seem very resourceful.'
Phoenix twirled his sword. 'You done talking?'
The shadow chuckled. He thrust his sword at the mage, but Phoenix parried and then turned on his heel. With his double at his back, he reached at his waist to pull away the other's sword. He then turned back full circle and faced the double with two swords.
The double lost his form and turned back into a mere shadow. Phoenix held the two swords to his throat, like scissors. The two blades rested on the creature's shoulders as Phoenix stepped closer to him as the flames licked and flickered around them. He glared darkly into the shadow's unseen face. 'Who sent you?'
The shadow gasped. 'I swore secrecy to my master.'
'The you'll take your oath to the grave.' Phoenix brought the two blades closer'
'Okay! Mercy, mage, mercy!' The shadow trembled.
'Yes?' Phoenix paused.
The shadow sighed. 'I come from a sorcerer. A summonor. He summoned me and my wolves from the deepest abyss to capture you.'
'Is that so? Why did he want us captured?'
'I'm not sure. He just said he'd pay me anything I asked for.'
'And how much did you ask for?'
'It wasn't how much, mage. It was his servant I wanted.'
Phoenix's brow rose. 'A servant? Why would a doppelganger need a servant?'
The doppelganger shrugged his black shoulders. 'She was pretty.'
Phoenix chuckled. 'No matter what species we are, we are all the same, eh?' He tightened the swords to the shadow's neck. 'Now tell me what you really know.'
'I swear, mage, that's all I know.'
Phoenix nodded. 'Sure it is. What's this summonor's name?'
The doppelganger hesitated.
Phoenix squeezed the blades together to the creature's shadow skin.
'I swore secrecy,' the doppelganger repeated. 'I'll not betray my master.'
Phoenix's eyes darkened into a sinister glare and he finally ripped the blades apart from each other, like sheers, leaving the doppelganger's shadow headless when the flames finally died down.

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