Turning towards the door, William left the overcrowded room and found himself once more in the dark fog of the valley. Walking a few steps forward, the fog seemed to lessen, becoming a little bit clearer than it had been. A few steps more and he could see Nathaniel and Horace up on the hill still waiting for him.

Was that it? Was that the worst that the Valley of Nightmares had to throw at him? And if it was, then why was he still here?

"Hey, William," Nathaniel called to him as he approached, "Glad to see you made it. Did it work?"

"Obviously not," he said with more venom than he meant to, "or else I would be back home now."

"Oh, right."

"If you're trying to leave, you could always go and see the wizard," Horace offered.

"What wizard?" William asked, somewhat shocked.

"The wizard in the tower in the labyrinth," Horace said as if everybody should know.

"I dunno," Nathaniel said, "they say that it's impossible to get to."

"Do you now anyone who's tried?" the horse asked.

"Well, no."

"Then how do you know for sure?"

"I guess I don't," Nathaniel admitted. "What do you say, William? Wanna give it a try?"

"Uh, sure."

A couple of hours later the group came to a halt before a massive stone wall that reached fifty feet into the sky and extended as far as the eye could see in either direction. directly in front of them was an arched double door made of weathered and cracked wood bound in iron. It looked like it had been many years since anybody had opened them.

Beside the door was a hand painted sign that said, "WIZARD," with an arrow pointing to the door. Below that was added, "Enter at your own risk!" in a less steady hand.

"Well I guess this is the place," William said, sliding off of Horace's back. "Thank you both for bringing me here. I couldn't have found it without you."

"Aw shucks," Nathaniel shrugged bashfully, "we couldn't just leave you there."

"You are welcome," Horace said, "but does this mean that you mean to proceed alone?"

"I think it's best," he answered, "you guys have done so much for me already that I couldn't ask you to go any further, especially if this place is as dangerous as you say it is."

"I'd love to go in there with you," the big guy said eagerly; "This is the most fun I've ever had!"

"I am not one to leave a task unfinished," the horse said, "I would go with you if you'll have me."

"You both honor me. Thank you."

Looking at the doors, William felt the familiar pang of anxiety. His heart began racing and his palms began sweating. There could be anything on the other side of that door. And while he was concerned for his own well-being, he was more worried about his new friends. If something happened to them because of him, he would never be able to forgive himself.

The doors loomed large in his vision until there was nothing else. He licked his lips with the intention of opening them, but his muscles refused to obey him, so he just stood there, staring intently at the still closed doors.

"I'll get that for you," Nathaniel said as he stepped forward and opened the doors with large scaled hands.

William's heart leapt in his chest as the doors swung open, and he gasped unconsciously. 

A few feet beyond the doorway was another wall forming a corridor that ran along the outer wall in both directions. The stonework was ancient; cracked and pitted, crumbling in some places. There was a lot of moss growing on the interior wall - moss that had eyeballs on stalks that watched them.

"Which way do we go?" Nathaniel asked, looking both ways and seeing nothing.

"Left," William said with more confidence than he felt. "That's the way to solve a maze; choose a direction and always turn that direction whenever possible."

"Really?" the giant lizard asked. "Gee, you're smart."

The confines of the narrow passage kept William on edge. He wasn't claustrophobic, but having barely enough room to turn around made him nervous. The other two waited for him to take the lead, which he did so reluctantly. Myths and stories about labyrinths and the monsters they held kept going through his head. If they came across a minotaur, he was sure that he would scream like a little girl and run the other direction.

After about fifty feet there came an opening on the right wall. It was another corridor of ancient stone and eyeball moss, but otherwise no different than the hallway they had been following.

"Do we go that way?" Nathaniel asked.

"No," William assured him, "only left, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

So on they went, following the perfectly straight passage, carefully avoiding contact with the moss. It was just too creepy. Another fifty feet or so and the corridor ended in a right turn, so they had no choice but to go that way.

Picking up a rock, he made a mark on the wall indicating which way they had come from. 

"Why are you doing that?"

"IN case we accidentally circle back here, we'll know that we've been here before."

"Hey, that's smart."

It wasn't too much father before they came to a T intersection where the passage kept going straight, but also with a passage to the left.

"Always left, right?" Nathaniel asked

"Right," William agreed, making another mark on the wall. 

Unfortunately, this corridor led to a dead end, so they had to backtrack to the intersection where he changed the mark accordingly. And so they kept going.

They kept following the passage for a couple of hundred feet without finding any other intersections or turns. "I thought mazes were full of turns and twists," Nathaniel remarked.

Suddenly the corridor opened out into a large round clearing with perhaps half a dozen other passages leading out in different directions. In the center of the clearing was a tended patch of grass with some flowering bushes planted to make it pretty.

Sitting on a rather large broken piece of wall was an old man with crazy white hair, a deeply creased face, and an enormous nose. He sat with his head down, the wide brim of the hat on his head partially hiding his face. He held a walking stick in both hands, point down on the ground and standing upright in front of him, topped by a carved wolf head.

After marking the passage from which they emerged, William proceeded towards the old man; "Hello," he said cheerfully, "what's your name?"

"My name is unimportant," he said in a creaky old voice, "but you may call me Sam if you must." He chuckled, "Sam I am."

"Hello Sam. My name is William. Do you happen to know the way to the Wizard?"

"What difference does it make?" he croaked, "it's all pointless anyway. He won't help you."

"How do you know that we need his help?"

"Why else would anybody go to the wizard?"

"Why won't he help me?"

"Why would he? What's in it for him?" The old man shook his head sadly.

"You asked him for help, didn't you? And he refused to help?"

"Indeed," he finally looked up, and the sadness in his eyes made William want to weep.