Will took his father's hammer and a nail in his hand once again and shoved them down his pants in order to hide them. The blacksmith never noticed as he had near hundreds of them. The older man was hovering over his drawing of a new sword when his son—and unwilling apprentice-snuck out of the house.

"Where should we go today, Max?" Will asked his black horse.

The horse neighed in answer.

"Excellent choice, south side it is."

The horse looked slightly confused and thought something along the lines of 'I said the west side.'

"That's toward the big hills so I suggest you get ready for a hard journey." Will gave Max some water and food, then pulled up the hood of his blue robe over his black hair, cut shorter than was the current style. People in the city knew his father well, as well as his on connexion, and if word got back to his father that he was skipping out on work, he would get in trouble. When Max finished, Will mounted the horse.

"Alright, let's go!"

The horse then took off-but in the wrong direction. He was going to the west, towards the gates of the city.

"Max, what are you doing?" Will pulled on the reins and tried to turn the horse around.

'Who do you think I am, your slave? We're going west, this time, honey.'

"Urgh, whatever. We'll go west today, but tomorrow we are going south."

Some people in the streets gave him odd looks. 'I should really stop talking to my horse.'

When Will and Max reached the gate, Will noticed that his horse seemed to have no intention of slowing down.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He pulled on the reins again, more forcefully, and his steed reared.

"That's going too far!" Although Will loved to search the city, it scared him a little, and it was not widely accepted that people should go out of the city walls at leisure. It was uncharted territory with bandits and monsters. He knew every inch of the city as a result of his great-great-great-grandfather helping build it and all of his succeeding male ancestors following suit. They then passed the plans down the generations. His father had been rebellious in his younger years and had decided to become a blacksmith instead. Although his father still technically owned the plans, Will had stolen them when he was twelve and his father had never asked for them. Now, at sixteen (not yet married and still not working by himself, much to his mother's dismay), Will explored the mapped out parts of the city.

When Max calmed down, he started again towards the gate. "Goddammit, Max, we can't go there. Do you know what's out there? Monsters and thieves. The guards might not even let us back in."

Max had always been the more adventurous of the two and now he was getting tired of running around in the same place. He pushed his head towards the gates and his body followed.

"Max, I said no!" Again, Will pulled Max to the side but he just turned around again. "My parents will worry if I don't come back."

Max started a little faster again towards the gates. "You know what, Max? I'll ask the guards, but trust me they'll say no."

Will dismounted, leading Max with a tight grip on the reins over to a few guards. Keeping his face in shadow, he asked if they could venture beyond the walls.

"Yeah, sure, you can go out but we gotta see your face for I.E.," a slightly overweight guard said.

"Nah, man, it's I.D.," one of the guards piped up.

"See Max, we can't go, oh well." Will began to lead Max away.

The horse pointed his head towards the two guards.

"Urgh, fine." He ripped off his hood.

"Ah, it's Walter's boy," the heavy one said.

"Just make sure you're back before sunset or we won't be able to let you back in," stated a thin man with a know-it-all voice.

"Urgh, you suck," Will said and turned back to his horse who seemed to be trotting in place. He did not get to see the look of surprise on the fat man's face and the look of disgust at the implication on the other's.

Will yanked his hood up again and climbed back into the saddle. He looked over at the guards and nodded.

"Hey, Edward, Henry, open up the gates," the big guard yelled at the men sitting at the top of the wall.

The massive gates slowly unsealed.

Will turned away from the gate to talk to the guards before he left; "please don't tell my dad you saw meeeeeeeeeeeee." Max had started off with surprising speed, and Will almost lost his grip.

After he calmed down, Will led him near the wall. "We can be outside but I won't go far away from this wall."

The horse looked as slightly pissed as a horse could but didn't make a sound.

They eventually got to a big boulder, fifteen or twenty feet high. Will had always liked climbing rocks and sitting on top just to look down at the life and activity below. He was a little scared, though, of doing it outside the city since he didn't know what he would see. He had already gotten off Max unconsciously and the horse pushed him forward with his nose. "Ok, ok, Max, I'll do it. You'll see; I'm not scared."

Will then grabbed at the rock and began to climb, expertly finding foot holds. It was almost as if the rock was made for climbing, and it made Will feel nice to be good at something. He quickly reached the top and sat down. He then took out his hammer and nail and began to spell out "Will waz here,"—but soon the rock under him began to move. No, not move, float! Will scrambled quickly back down (falling the last few feet).

"Do you see what you do?" Will yelled at Max

Max pointed with his hoof below the floating rock. Will looked down and saw a hole with a rope ladder leading down. "You want me to go down, don't you?"

Max nodded.

"What are you gonna do if I don't?"

Max pointed his face in the opposite direction of the wall.

"What if I just don't get on your back?"

Max went over and lightly bit the back of Will's shirt and then yanked hard until Will, too, was floating.

"I see. You can let me go now. Ow! Was that necessary?"

Will looked unsurely at the still floating rock. "If I don't come back before the sun sets, go get help."

'Poor sod,' the horse thought. 'He doesn't even remember he's talking to a horse.'

He then crawled underneath and began to go down the ladder. Once he got to the bottom, he saw it was completely dark except for the light coming from the outside. Then the rock seemed to fall back down, though he did not hear it. Suddenly many torches lit up and he saw that he was in a sewer.

"Great job, Max."

Not wanting to go back yet, because he knew his horse would chastise him for returning too early, Will followed the obvious path. It was the only one with a sidewalk. He realized that the direction he was going in obviously meant he was going towards the city.

The sewer obviously smelled horrid and the walls and floors were slimy, even the sidewalk. Will suspected that the liquid seeping into his shoes was not water and to avoid thinking about that aspect, he though about how cold it was. The bland stone that made up the ceiling, walls, and floor, offered no distraction and only made him feel colder. The only redeeming part of the tunnel was the intricate carvings in the torch holders. There were pretty swirls (gee, that's intelligent sounding) that curved in nice harmony.

After a while, Will reached a dead end with another rope ladder. He knocked a few times on the rock above him, and realized it wasn't a magical one like the other. He then lifted it up with the hand that wasn't holding on to the rope. It slid over easily enough and he got out of the hole. He found to be in a stone room with no doors or windows. Paranoid, he went over to each wall and tapped on them. They didn't budge, and so he looked around and soon spotted a small hole about the size of a pointer finger. He went over and pressed the hole. The door unlatched and he pushed gently to open it a crack. Then he heard something that made him stop. Moans. It seemed they were also saying something but Will couldn't tell what. What's going on? Is someone in trouble? I'll be a hero! Oh crap, what if it's a demon? No, demons shall face my wrath. Bring it on! I can take them all out. Will opened the door further. He saw a large, lavish room. Surely only the King could afford this bedroom. But what was this? No, it wasn't the King's, but the princess', and she was on her bed with a man on top of her.

Will realized his mistake quickly and closed the door. He stumbled back down the ladder and closed the stone above him. Running, he followed the sidewalk back, and as soon as he touched the rope the lights went out again and the rock floated off the ground. He crawled out to see that the sun was beginning to set and that his horse was on his back and rolling around. That was what he did when he got nervous. When he saw Will come out he seemed to jump to his feet. "Well, Max, I have to say, I don't think I should go back down there."