The Fountain of Fair Fortune.


High on a hill was a forest, and deep inside that forest there was a castle. Inside that castle there was a fountain that was possessed by a powerful magic. The fountain was known as the Fountain of Fair Fortune.

Oce a year, between sunrise and sunset on the longest day of the year, a single person would be given the chance to fight their way to the Fountain. Where they would bathe in its water, and have fortune for the rest of their life.

On such day of the longest day, hundreds of people traveled from everywhere in the world to reach the castle walls before dawn. Male and female, old and young, rich and poor, magical and non-magical gathered in the darkness, each hoping that they would be able to get into the garden.

Three warlocks, who each had their own burdens, met outside the crowd, and told each other their troubles before dawn came when their boredom was getting to them.

The first warlock, by the name of Antonio, was sick of some unknown disease that no one could cure. He hoped beyond hope that the Fountain would be able to heal him from his misery of sickness and give him a long and happy life.

The second, by the name of Gilbert, had been robbed of home, riches and his wand by an evil man who wanted expand his own reign of terror. He hoped beyond hope that the Fountain would be able to relieve him of his poverty and powerlessness.

The third, by the name of Francis, had been deserted by a woman who he had loved dearly. Francis had thought that his heart would never be able to mend from the pain she had caused. He hoped beyond all hope that the Fountain would be able to relieve him of his pain and longing.

Knowing each other's pain they agreed that if they got the chance, they would unite and help each other to get into the garden and then the fountain together.

The sky was blood red with the first rays of the run, and that was when the first crack in the wall appeared. The crowd raced forward, all of them shrieking to claim the the Fountains riches. Creeps from the garden snaked out and wound themselves around the first warlock, Antonio, who then grabbed the second warlock, Gilbert. He grabbed the arm of the second warlock, Francis.

And Francis got caught up in the armor of a sorrowful knight, who was seated on a bone-thin horse.

The creepers dragged the three warlocks into the garden and brought the knight. His poor horse was left behind. Behind the wall the cries of the disappointed rang through the morning air. Then everything quieted down to the point where one could hear a pin drop.

Gilbert and Antonio were pissed at Francis for bringing along the night.

"God Francis! It's gonna be hard enough to decide between the three of us, how could you bring along another?"

Now the knight, called Matthew by his friends, saw that they all possessed magic and he himself having no skills, with his sword, was sure that he had no hope of beating the three men to the fountain. He declared that he had no interest in the Fountain and was going to retreat back outside. When Francis heard this, he became angry as well.

"Don't be so weak!" he chided. "Take your sword and help us reach our goal then!"

And so the three warlocks and the knight went forth into the magic garden, where rare herbs and fruit like which the world had never seen before grew. There was no obstacle until they reached the foot of the hill on which the Fountain stood.

At the base of the hill there was a monstrous white Worm, who was so bloated he was blind. As they got closer, he turned his foul face towards them and uttered the words:

"Pay me the proof of your pain."

Matthew drew his sword and tried to slay the beast, but the blade snapped in half. Then Gilbert stared to throw stones at it while Francis and Antonio cast every spell they knew. Their power was no more effective than their friend's stones or Matthew's blade. The Worm refused to move from its spot.

The sun rose higher and higher into the air, and Antonio, despairing, began to cry,

The great Worm came forward and pressed its monstrous face against hers and drank up his tears. The Worms thirst quenched, it slithered back into its dark hole.

Rejoicing, the four men began to climb the hill, sure that the Fountain would be in their reach before noon.

Halfway up the hill, there was a message cut into the ground before them.

"Pay me the fruit of your labors." Matthew kneeled on the ground and took out his one rusty coin and placed it in front of the words, but it rolled away and was lost. They all continued to climb, but though they walked for hours they got no higher on the hill. The words were still in front of them and the Fountain got no closer.

They were all discouraged, as the sun rose over their heads, but Gilbert refused to quit. He walked faster and harder than the rest of them and encouraged everyone to follow him. "Come on we can't give up!" he cried as he swiped the seat from his forehead.

As the drops fell to the earth the words on the ground faded and they found that once more they could move forward again.

Happier than ever by overcoming this obstacle, they hurried as fast as they could until they could see the Fountain glittering among the trees and flowers. But before they could reach it a stream cut across their path. In the clear water there was a stone inscribed with the words:

"Pay me the treasure of your past."

Matthew tried to float across the stream on his shield, but he sank. The three warlocks pulled him from the stream and then tried to jump across, but they could not cross. The sun began to sink lower into the horizon.

So they all fell into the meaning of the message, and Francis was the first to understand. Taking his wand he drew from his mind every happy memory of him and his former lover, and dropped them into the stream. The stream swept them away, and stepping stones appeared a moment later, and the three warlocks and the Knight were able to cross.

The fountain was before them, shimmering in all its glory. The sky burned red and it was time to decide which one would step into the Fountain.

Before they could make their decision, Antonio collapsed. Exhausted by their struggle to the summit, he was in pain and close to death. His friends would have moved him, but he was in so much pain that he begged them not to touch him.

Gilbert ran and picked up all the herbs he thought would be most helpful, and mixed them together in Matthew's gourd of water, and then poured the potion in Antonio's mouth.

Almost immediately, Antonio could stand. What was even better, all his symptoms of the deadly diseases were gone.

"I'm healed!" he cried out in joy. "Have Gilbert go to the Fountain."

But Gilbert was collecting as many herbs that he could.

"If I could do that with Antonio, just what else can these do? I'll be rich! Let Francis go to the Fountain."

Matthew gestured for Francis to go forward, but he shook his head. The stream had vanished everything he had left for his lady lost, and now he could see how cold and heartless she really was. Francis was now happy to be rid of her.

"You must go to the fountain, Knight, for all you have done for us."

So Matthew went forward as the last rays of light were in the sky, and bathed in the Fountain of Fair Fortune, astonished that he was the one bathing after the hundred that had gathered there this morning. As the sun set Matthew reemerged from the fountain in all his glory and triumph, and threw himself at the feet of Francis, who was the kindest and most beautiful person he had ever seen. His face flushed with success, he begged for a chance with him, and Francis (no less delighted) realized that he had found someone worthy.

The three warlocks and the Knight set off down the hill together, arm in arm, and all four heads held high. Each of them led long and happy lives, and none of them suspected that the Fountain's waters carried no enchantments at all.