The Discovery

Once in the cool air,Felix felt the breeze begin to wash his temper away. He unfolded the map and attempted to get his bearings. On the map he saw a tree, this was located to his left. He saw the building behind him and, slightly ahead and to the right, he could make out a sandy path marked on the map by a dotted line. He let his eyes follow the path far into the distance. There didn't seem to be anything else marked on the map, so he began his journey. After all the light was fading quickly and he was not getting any warmer by standing around.

After he had trudged along for what seemed to be ages, Felix pulled out the map once more. He had been climbing steadily for some time, amongst rocks and boulders. The way was getting steeper and the ground was more uneven. He didn't expect to see anything different, but he had a niggling feeling that he needed more information and all he had was the map. Perhaps he had missed something, or not joined up clues that were to be connected. The dark of the cloudy night had closed in now and once again, the importance of his task flooded into Felix's mind. He peered closely at the diagram, struggling to make out the shapes that had been so clear. Felix traced the dotted line along the page but it did not meet the Warlock's house and the tree, as it had earlier. Instead, Felix could see the shape of a large ragged boulder, central to the page and slightly off the path. He couldn't remember seeing that before. A strange notion flickered through his mind. He raised his eyes and extended his arm. A few steps further, groping through the darkness, Felix's fingers found their mark. The brief shock of cold shot up his arm before he had a chance to retract it, followed by the shock of the discovery about the map. Felix stood for a moment, hand tucked into the warmth between his body and opposite arm, frozen in thought. He backed onto the path as a pale watery light was released from behind a cloud.
Felix seized this opportunity to unfold the map and examine it fully. The map appeared to show his location as central. With his eyes focused on the paper, he continued along the path. Unsure about his findings, Felix glanced up and began to speed up, staying on the strip of course sand. He ran until he was breathless. The moon was still battling for power over the cloud, and another silvery beam managed to escape to where Felix panted. Now the boulder was represented near the bottom of the paper that was quivering in his hands. As the light flickered, Felix thought to check what to expect up ahead. The path-line made a few sharp bends moving in an S shaped pattern. Very strange, thought Felix. Near the top end of the map, the path branched and, much later, met again, forming a oval island between. Within the oval was the shape of a building labelled "The Wise Man's House". The last of the light disappeared before Felix could make out anything else. As he was suddenly plunged into the dark, a breeze whipped its way past Felix. He pulled his arms tighter about him, hunching his shoulders to draw his head down near to the relative warmth of his body. There was little protection from the biting wind as the path climbed even higher and even the rocks abandoned Felix. He pushed forward, because he knew he had to, but mostly because he couldn't bear the idea of letting the warlock beat him. Each time Felix considered going back, he only had to think of his mother, alone, not knowing his whereabouts and his determination returned. By now, Felix had worked out why the path snaked its way upwards - it was simply too steep to go another way. He had stumbled several times already and he didn't like to imagine how dangerous a straight path would have been. It was so dark, and Felix was so tired that he hardly knew whether his eyes were open or closed. His legs staggered on. He knew he could rest when he found the house.