Stella was Melanie's best friend, they had known each other since early childhood, and being precise since the memorable day when the elf literally bumped into her. Well, one day, when little Stella was learning to use teleportation crystals (training crystals, of course - they only teleported a few metres, and a lot of magical protection was put on them. The purpose of the training was to develop the focus needed to accurately determine position, without which it is virtually impossible to use teleportation - the crystals remain inactive) she got the idea of moving to the neighbouring garden. As she could not teleport behind the quite large brick wall entwined with ivy that limited her field of vision, she decided to move to a place in the air behind the wall. Coincidentally, she bumped straight into Melanie, who was currently practising fencing.

“Where did you come from!” Cried out a half-surprised half-frightened Mel.

“F-from over there,” Replied Stella stupidly, pointing her finger uncertainly upwards.

At first surprised, the girls, grasping the absurdity of this "clash", began to laugh most heartily at the situation. When the excitement finally subsided, the curious girls asked each other all sorts of questions and before they knew it, they were engaged in a long and fascinating conversation about practically everything. When Melanie realised that the time set for the fencing lesson had long since passed and that she was already late for dinner, she started to apologise to her new friend and said that she had to go. Stella said it was all right and in fact, she too should get going. But literally a second later...

“Wait!” She shouted to the departing Mel. “Shall we meet tomorrow?” She said with some anxiety.

The girl pondered for a moment and said, “Of course, just use the garden gate next time! They both laughed and said a hearty goodbye.

“Finally, I was about to give you a scratch," said the elven girl irritated, then smiled predatorily at the half-elf who was staring at the whole incident and who, together with his mercenary thugs, was standing with his mouth gaping in astonishment. She turned to her friend and said, “You're in trouble.”

“As usual, a quick and flawless analysis of the situation,” said Mel with a smile.

The half-elf was furious, but he was not going to let Melanie go. Suddenly, a figure wearing a black cloak with a hood and a black bandana covering his face walked towards them from the depths of the room.

“What is it! Another one!” The half-breed threw up his hands furiously. Then, after a moment's reflection, noticing an opportunity to increase his chances of success, he added more politely, “Perhaps you would like to join us? I have a pouch of crowns to distribute here — ” He argued.

“No, thank you, I am unlikely to take up the offer,” said the black-clad stranger in a voice that certainly belonged to a young man, but full of unimaginable strength and sounding extremely confident. “But I will be happy to join the ladies present here, if they agree to my help, of course.”

“Of course we agree!” said Stella with a smile that brightened even more when she noticed Mel's accusatory gaze fixed on her.

“Wrong choice,” said the half-elf dully, then said to his companions in a voice vibrating with rage and excitement, “I have a desire to enjoy myself today. I'm bored of fleecing the same cowardly stiffs over and over again, but I see I've finally found some fun company!” The two thugs laughed loudly in reaction. “Let's break some bones!” He shouted towards his companions.

Melanie had been staring intensely at the half-breed for quite some time and was vigilantly watching his every move. But it was the elf who struck first. Blue-green lightning shot towards the heavy standing in front of her. The scent of stimulated energy was beginning to be felt in the air. Not expecting such a swift and brutal attack from her, the bandit fell to the granite slabs that lined the floor and lost consciousness. The mercenary standing closest to the half-elf swung a short one-edged sword in Mel's direction - she parried with a swift movement of her dagger and proceeded to counterattack - she jumped away from the man and fired from her second favourite weapon - a small and light crossbow strapped to her shoulder. The weapon had a very convenient gnomish trigger mechanism - a steel cable was mounted from where a conventional crossbow would have had a trigger. The cable stretched to the index finger, where there was a ring attached to it. Thanks to this design, every time Melanie bent her finger the crossbow would fire a bolt. The crossbow fire made the Thug falter for a moment, this gave her time to leap towards his shoulder. She jabbed her dagger into the muscle making the thug drop his sword and scream in pain. Mel drew her weapon making the man kneel down and kicked him in the head mugger lost consciousness and collapsed on the granite. She looked towards the boy in black. The third of the heavies charged towards him with a shout. The boy threw his cloak off his shoulders and with a quick movement took out two crescent swords, which were in black leather scabbards placed on the boy's back. The hood of the cloak hid his lush black hair and sparkling green eyes. The boy's face was calm, possessing sharp yet subtle features. At his belt, he had several pouches and trays full of throwing knives. He assumed a position with his two swords raised in parallel and unexpectedly dissolved into black smoke. In a fraction of a second, he was beside his opponent and struck in a pirouette during a burst of black smoke. The mercenary settled to the ground and the boy looked towards the half-elf.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Meanwhile, Stella had finished stunning the last heavy and struck a lightning bolt in the direction of the half-breed he, however, deflected it with his sword - it hit back to the sender. Stella, struck by her own magical energy, began to wobble, but before she fell Mel caught her. The black swordsman got to the last opponent. The first few blows were parried with the enchanted sword, but after that, the blows were faster and faster the opponent could not keep up, and the first scarlet streaks appeared on his body. When he realised he couldn't take it any longer he suddenly pulled a glass bottle of amber liquid from inside his cubby and threw it at the boy's feet. The bottle shattered and its contents spilled, soiling the black swordsman's boots and trousers in the process. Mel felt a sudden change in air pressure. She knew what it meant.

“It's an air compression potion run away!” She shouted.

But the boy did not move, the half-elf jumped and hid behind an overturned table. A moment later, the girl felt a powerful shockwave. She had previously pulled Stelle away from the scene of the fight and was reasonably safe - potions of this type have a small area of effect usually 2 to 5 metres - but she still covered her eyes and ears from the explosion. When it was all over Mel looked towards where the boy was standing. She expected to see him badly injured discarded somewhere in the corner of the room, but no, he was still standing in the same place, not moving even a millimetre.

“It's a bit of a pity that I had to use it, but I have a few more of them," He said in a disappointed voice, taking a small piece of rusty crystal out of his pocket, which disintegrated in his hand after a moment.

The perpetrator of all the commotion wanted to slip out through the main entrance, but the black swordsman pinned him against the door with several knives, one of which knocked the weapon out of his hand. There was a sudden burst of black smoke around the boy and another right at the half-elf. He twisted the completely dazed thug's arms and began to tie him up...

“Who are you? What do you want from me?” The bound man began to ask. “Money? I have a lot of crowns, if you let me go I will also give you my sword is worth at least one thousand five hundred!” He made more and more generous offers probably looking for salvation.

The boy in black did not say a word. When he had finished tying he took from his pouch a glass ampoule in the shape of a five-pointed star with a dark turquoise liquid inside, opened it, and slipped it under the half-elf's nose. The half-breed twisted his face and tried to break free, but the boy held him tight. After a while, the violent movements became weaker and weaker until they stopped. Subjected to the effects of the sleeping potion, the half-elf once again raised his gaze and fell asleep. The swordsman moved him closer to the centre of the room and approached Mel mumbling healing spells.

“Here,” He said handing her the rope. “You're going to help me tie up the others — “ He stopped when he saw the girl scowl at him. He sighed.

“Healing spells won't do anything, she needs energy,” He said glancing at the elven girl.

Melanie looked helplessly at Stella and nodded. Once they had tied up the whole bunch and moved past the half-elf which was sleeping in full swing, the girl looked at the boy. “Well... She guesses it would be appropriate to say thank you, after all, you have helped us a lot. Where did you even come from?” Said Mel scratching her head.

“To be honest — „ He began slowly looking around to the side. “I had an assignment from the local ruler. I was supposed to take care of this here,” He said pointing at the half-breed, “and in the process break up his gang. For several months they had been terrorising the whole area by attacking merchants and travellers on the trail and offering "protection" to the local shopkeepers. The local people had had enough so they sent a note to the ruler and he set a substantial reward for Simon Cathloy,” He pointed out the bandit again.

“In fact, you two helped me a lot, thanks to you I got the job done much faster,” He smiled predatorily, “and now... it would be appropriate to help this elf... I had it somewhere in here...,” The boy started rummaging in his pouches and after a while, he pulled out a triangular-shaped bottle shimmering with a golden glow. “There it is!” He said exultantly, holding the bottle in both hands.

„Is this...?” said Melanie and shook her eyes in amazement.

“Water from an elven spring,” He nodded, “I found one when I was doing a commission in a certain mountain village near Montis. I filled several flacons with it and keep it for a black hour. It's awfully hard to get it these days even in the big cities, and yet it's only water,” He said clearly amused, and handed the bottle to the girl.

Mel took it and opened it, and after a while, there was a nice sweet smell in the air, reminiscent of sweet fruit. She had been to Montis once. Stella thought of the town mentioned. She had gone there one summer to go shopping with her teacher.