The guards that weren't trying to pull the merchant from the wagon had formed a wall spanning the width of the entrance to prevent anyone from getting in. The one that had been talking to the young man was also the one that had yelled out to him upon realizing he hadn't moved. Before anyone could do anything the horse was almost on top of the boy, though he didn't seem all that worried. One second he was there and then at the last possible second he wasn't, only a small bit of dust in the wind.

"What the?!" The guard blinked a couple of times as the horse and wagon took off down the road. Just the horse and wagon though, as the guards had been able to yank down the merchant before he got away.

"Send word to the next guardhouse that they'll need horses to bring that wagon under control. Quickly!"

"Um…."

The guard who had been looking for the boy suddenly heard someone with a soft voice. Turning his head to the right he noticed the boy was standing by the wall without a hint of concern. Well, that wasn't true, the boy looked rather worried, but he would find out in a moment it had nothing to do with the runaway wagon.

"Um.. is it ok to get back in line?"

"He was nervous about following instructions and not about almost getting run over?!" The guard thought incredulously to himself.

"How…. what…" The guard stammered for a few seconds before shaking his head and looking down at the boy.

"Just who are you?" He asked in bewilderment, which sadly the boy took as frustration.

"I'm… I'm sorry, my name is Ethan Kipley," he spoke quickly as he held out a piece of parchment for the guard to see.

"I'm from the Forgotten Oaks Sanctuary Orphanage to visit the adventurer's guild in this town," he continued after the guard carefully took the parchment and looked it over. He then began to fumble in his clothing for the entrance fee.

Seeing the information on the parchment, considering the child's demeanor, and the events a moment ago the guard sighed and held the parchment back out toward Ethan.

"Don't worry about the entrance fee kid."

"Huh?" Ethan stopped looking, both because the guard said not to worry about it but also because he had just found the coin.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"I said don't worry about the entrance fee. Consider it an apology for almost getting you run over," the guard said, though he also mentally considered that the boy would probably have had to be sleeping to actually get hurt by that horse.

"Are…. are you sure?" Ethan asked while seeming very uncertain, as if he was being asked to do something bad.

"Yes, it's ok. Do you know how to get to the adventurer's guild?" The fact that the child wanted to go there did make some sense considering how he handled himself with the incident before.

"Um, I think so… but I've only been here once before when I was much younger, can you please tell me just to be safe?"

The guard nodded and after a few minutes of giving the boy directions watched as he made his way into the gate. The boy had been respectful enough and thanked the guard with a sincere smile. However, the guard watched him with a frown, hoping he was going to be ok. Shaking his head from side to side he tried to clear his thoughts and turned back to the line which had gradually reemerged.

"Next!"

Ethan didn't hear the guard yell for the next person as the sounds and sights of the rather large town was currently overpowering his senses to such a degree his earlier fidgeting was now near shaking. Without realizing it had he begun to slow down a lot in his walking, which after a moment happened to cause someone behind him to bump into him.

"Watch it kid, you'll get hurt," was mumbled by a man walking with a friend as they pushed pass.

He heard the sounds of wooden wheels on stone street just in time to slip out of the way, thus avoiding being run over. His movement to the side, unfortunately, caused him to bump into a lady carrying a basket of flowers.

"Hey watch where you're going!"

Ethan looked up to see a rather wrinkled and haggard face glaring at him.

"I'm very sorry!"

No sooner had he finished his apology he was turning and making his way through the crowd before him. When he moved with a purpose he seemed to be able to avoid bumping into people and he quickly found a spot that was out of the way of traffic. Amongst the multitude of walking citizens the young man who had been moving between them suddenly vanished. If someone had been following him they would have been thoroughly confused, however, Ethan's luck wasn't 100% bad that he was already the target of some nefarious individual.

The young man was down in a squat next to a large crate up against the wall of what looked to be some kind of shop. He didn't really care about the shop though, as he was trying to look back down the road toward the gate to get his bearings. After mentally retracing his steps, which wasn't that far to begin with really, he compared where he was to the directions given by the guard. He was about to take a breath and slip back into the crowd when he was suddenly hit in the head with what felt to be a bundle of straw.

"Get outta here boy! No beggin in front of my store ya hear?!"

Before Ethan could protest that he wasn't begging the store keeper gave him another smack on top of the head with his broom.

"Get!"

Ethan decided talking wasn't going to work and slipped back into the crowd with much less finesse he had originally planned. He bounced off two or three people, earning a yell and some glares, before finally bringing his movement under control. Less than 10 minutes later, the road having gradually turned into a broader circle with several large buildings along its parameter, Ethan stood off the side, looking up at front of the adventure's guild building.