The Well of Wishes

Captain Rogers has finally found what will lead him to the treasure he’s been trying to find since his whole crew of pirates came in contact with him. ‘Trying to find’ is an understatement, he has been obsessed with finding it. He had been contacted by a man claiming to own a map that would lead him to the Well of Wishes. And, after seeing the map, Captain Rogers was willing to believe that it was legit.

The Captain had met the man at a tavern close to the shore and had paid him most of what he and his crew owned. He knew that would make them angry, but he also knew they wouldn’t have the courage to say it to his face.

Captain Rogers gets back to his ship and can see the anger in his crew’s faces. They must have figured out by now that the Captain took almost all their valuable belongings. All the treasures they had looted recently, all the gold and riches they fought to have. However, just like he expected, no one voices their displeasure.

“I have the map.” The Captain announces. “I can tell from your faces that you’re not happy about how much I have paid to get it, but I assure you all it will be worth it. The Well of Wishes can grant you whatever you ask of it. You can all get much more than what we had.” Even though he says that, the other pirates’ faces don’t change. None of them believe they will actually get to the Well of Wishes, and, if they do get there, they don’t believe it will work. “We will leave at first light tomorrow.”

Captain Rogers, carrying his map, heads to his cabin for the night. He walks up to his dark wooden desk, topped with small wooden boxes, knives and a cast iron lantern with a candle inside. There are other lanterns hanging on the walls of the cabin, but it’s still dark because there is no moonlight coming from the window and the stars seem to be covered by dark clouds that don’t let them shine through.

He lays the map on his desk and looks at it. They have a long way to go – days and nights of sailing – until the reach the spot marked with an ‘X’. But that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how far it is, it only matters that he finally has a way to get there.

On the next morning, as soon as the first sunrays become visible, they set sail.

Captain Rogers has the map in his hands and isn’t letting anyone else touch it. It’s the only thing that will make it possible for them to get there, but it’s also the only thing that proves it is real. It’s the only thing that gives him hope to have what he has wanted for so many years.

They sail for days and nights, without stopping. The Captain divided his crew into two teams, one to sail during the day and another during the night.

The closer they get to the location marked on the map, the worst weather they find. The waves on the sea get bigger and stronger as they sail, and the sky is almost black, announcing that a storm is about to hit them.

After a while, as expected, a flash of light is seen on the sky above them, and they hear the rumble of thunder almost immediately. The storm is right on top of them.

“Captain, we should get inside until the storm is over.” One of the pirates tells his captain.

“It won’t be over.” Captain Rogers says, and it starts raining heavily. “It won’t be over until we get there. We need to keep going.”

“Water and lighting are not a good mix. If one of those lightning bolts hit us…”

“We just need to move forward. This isn’t a normal storm.” The Captain looks at the map on his hand and tightens his grip on it. “This storm is trying to make us back away so we don’t get to the Well of Wishes. Did you think it would be easy for us to get to a mythical treasure that can grant us wishes? Of course there will be tests. Now, let’s keep moving. I don’t want to hear any more whining.”

The crew isn’t happy about the decision, but they do what their captain is telling them to do.

More lightning flashes on the sky, and the sound of thunder keeps getting louder and scarier. Some lighting bolts fall on the sea around the ship, making the spread of electricity visible for a couple seconds.

They keep moving forward, fighting against the wind that is also getting stronger and stronger. Some men have to hold on to the masts to be able to stand up.

“We need to start getting this water out!” Someone yells, and a few men run to get buckets and start to throw the water overboard.

One of them is hit with a strong gust of wind and isn’t able to hold on to anything. He’s pushed away from the ship and falls into the big black sea, which engulfs him mercilessly.

The others stop and look at where their crewmate disappeared into the sea. No one moves, except for the Captain, who keeps barking orders. “We need to move! Keep going! Move!” His last order is loud enough to bring the pirates back to the moment, and they start moving again.

The lightning flashes are getting more and more frequent and the rain is getting heavier. The only positive side of the lighting is that without it they would be sailing in complete darkness. This way, they still get flashes of light. More and more often now.

One lighting bolt comes down into the ship and strikes one of the men. He starts convulsing violently, and another one runs to him. He touches the first one, and starts convulsing all the same.

“Don’t touch them!” Captain Rogers orders. “Nobody touches them!”

The pirates look at their captain, and then at their friends dying. They don’t move.

The two men convulsing quickly stop moving and their lifeless bodies fall to the floor. There is nothing that can be done for them now, and the others still need to figure out a way to survive this storm and get wherever they need to go. The more time they spend looking for that damn Well of Wishes, the more they think it won’t be worth it.

They keep filling buckets with water and throwing it overboard, trying to keep the ship steadily moving forward with the waves pushing it in all directions and, especially, doing everything in their power to survive.

As the first rays of sunshine start coming through the thick clouds hovering over them, the storm also starts getting more tamed.

Eventually, there’s no more lightning or thunder, and the rain is barely more than a drizzle. And, on the horizon, there is land in sight.

“Captain…”

“I see it.” Captain Rogers doesn’t let him finish, because he’s looking at the island they’re approaching. He looks at the map and this is the place where they’re supposed to get to. “This is it.”

They keep moving forward and drop the anchor when they’re close enough to the shore. Then, they leave the ship, heading straight for the island.

It seems deserted, as an island with a mythical treasure should be. The sand is white, and the sea is very clear. It looks nothing like the sea they sailed on during the night.

“Are we supposed to get in there?” One of the pirates asks, pointing toward the trees in front of them.

“We are.” Captain Rogers answers and starts walking in that direction.

They reach the first trees and keep moving forward, entering a dense forest.

“Something feels wrong.” Someone comments. “It’s too silent.”

And he’s right. The only sounds are coming from them walking and moving branches and vines away from their path. There are no birds singing, or other animals walking around them. There doesn’t seem to be any sign of life on the island.

One of them men in the front starts coughing violently. He turns around to look at the others and they see that his face is swollen and red. He keeps coughing until he loses strength in his legs and falls to the floor. Then, on the floor, he continues to cough, but this time blood comes out of his mouth.

And others start coughing too. More than half a dozen of the men are coughing violently.

“What is going on?” Captain Rogers asks and, for the first time, he seems to be panicking as much as the others.

One of the men coughing tries to speak, but only choking sounds come out of his mouth. So, he raises his left hand. It’s covered in lines of red blisters. Then, with the same hand, he points to the vines swirling around the tree branches and falling almost to the floor.

“It’s the vines, Captain. They’ve been touching them to move them out of the way.”

The Captain looks at his own hands, because he has been moving the vines out of the way as well, and he is very thankful for his leather gloves.

The first man who started to cough is not moving anymore, and there’s a small puddle of blood on the dirt under his mouth. And the others who touched the vines soon stop moving as well, on top of their own puddles of blood.

“Captain, we should turn back.”

“We can’t. Not now that we’re so close.” Captain Rogers says. “We have to keep going.” He tells his men, and then whispers to himself. “I have to keep going.”

“What if there are other dangers that will kill us?”

“We have to keep going.” The Captain turns around from his men and starts to walk, moving deeper and deeper into the center of the island. His men aren’t happy about it, but they follow him.

They get to a clearing. There are trees all around them, but there are none growing there. The only thing present is an entrance to a cave. Looking from outside, there seems to be light coming from inside the cave.

“Do we have to go down there? That doesn’t look good.”

“It’s the only way.” Captain Rogers says and leads the way into the cave.

They enter and follow the way down, stepping on the stone stairs. And they were right, there is light inside the cave. Along the dark rock walls, torches are hanging. But the flames coming out of these torches isn’t normal fire, it’s bright blue.

The men look around at the torches surrounding them amazed. None of them has ever seen blue fire and, now, they’re sure there is something magical about this place. Maybe the Well of Wishes is real after all.

As they go deeper and deeper into the cave, they start seeing water. And, very soon, they’re inside of it.

Even after being inside of the water, it gets deeper, until it is at their chests.

One of the men gasps and starts moving around. “Did you see that?” He asks the others, but no one seems to have seen anything.

“Just keep moving.”

“There!” He exclaims and points.

The others follow the direction his finger is pointing at and they see movement under the water. Even with the blue light coming from the torches, it’s still too dark inside the cave to be able to tell what that movement was. But they’re on high alert now.

“Something touched me!” Another man exclaims and starts to get away from whatever is under the water. But, he’s not fast enough, and something pulls him under water.

“What the hell?”

“What was that?”

“We should just leave.”

The man who went under water, manages to raise his head and yells for help. He is pulled under again and, even in the dim blue light of the cave, the others can see blood in the water where he was.

“No, no, no. We need to get out of here.”

“We need to keep going.” Captain Rogers says but, before he can take another step forward, something moves in the water in front of him. He tightens the grip on his sword and waits for whatever it was to get closer to him again. “Come on! I’m right here.” He taunts it.

There is movement in the water again, approaching him, and he pushes down his sword in front of him. He hits something that feels like flesh, and he definitely knows what it feels like to drive a sword through flesh.

A high-pitched shriek comes out of the creature in front of him, and some of the men cover their ears. Captain Rogers raises his sword, pulling it from the creature to be able to stab it again. But, before he manages to, the creature comes out of the water and jumps toward him.

The man beside him hits it on its side before it can hurt the Captain, and the same shriek is heard again. Captain Rogers drives his sword through the creature’s head and it stops moving. He catches it before it can go under water and looks at it.

“It’s a siren.” He says, still looking at it wide-eyed.

While his men are getting closer to him to see the siren, more surround them and start pulling them under water. The others raise their swords and attack the sirens killing their friends.

After they manage to kill them all, seven men have lost their lives. They’re all panting, leaning against one of the walls of the cave. Even the Captain himself is wondering if the Well of Wishes is worth losing the lives of all these men. If he was a selfless man he would say that it isn’t, but he knows he’s not a selfless man.

Once they have caught their breath, the men keep moving forward.

They walk upward and get to a place where there is no more water. It’s a roughly circular chamber, and there is a stone well in the center of it.

“Is that it?” A man asks with disappointment in his voice. “We went through all of that for… this?”

“This is what will grant you your wishes.” Captain Rogers tells him and moves forward. He is the first one to get to the well and looks down. He doesn’t see the end of it, only darkness. The Captain places both hands on the edge of the well and closes his eyes. He thinks about his wish and then whispers it to the inside of the well.

Captain Rogers steps away from the well and his men run to it. They also start whispering their wishes inside.

Chests filled with jewels and gold start appearing around them. Then, piles of gold, weapons and women materialize themselves there too. But, the Captain’s wish isn’t anywhere to be found.

While his men are cheering and run toward their wishes, Captain Rogers walks around the chamber, looking for the one thing he has been wanting for years.

“Where am I?” A woman’s voice comes from behind Captain Rogers.

He turns around and sees a young woman standing there. Her hair is light brown and very long, just like her mother’s was, but her eyes are just like her father’s. They’re a very light blue, just like the Captain’s. He hasn’t seen her in almost twenty years, but he knows it’s her.

“Bella?” He asks anyway.

“Yes… Where am I?”

“You don’t remember me, do you?” He tries to hide the sadness in his voice, but he’s not successful.

“I…” She looks at him more closely. She was only four years old when she was taken from him. Captain Rogers’ ship was attacked by a rival pirate captain, and her mother was killed and Bella was taken by him. But, just like he knew her eyes, she knows his. “Father!”

He smiles and walks closely to her. “I’ve been trying to find you for so long.”

She runs to his arms and he wraps them around her. “You found me.”

“I have. I found the only treasure worth finding.”