Since there was no better way to find out than to ask, Thufrat decided to go for it.
"So, what are you kids doing out here? This isn't a place to play around in!" As he said the last part, his face was quite stern.
The kids seemed to be very hesitant, as they didn't know this dwarf, but the wolf did heal them after all, and they didn't seem like bad people.
"We came to gather some medicinal herbs, but we got ambushed by this goblin!" Said the sister of the pair, as she still stood protectively in front of her little brother.
"Do you know the way back?" Thufrat followed up, with a little concern. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do if they didn't know the way back home, he couldn't take them to the tree after all.
The little girl nodded affirmatively when she heard this they, weren't lost after all. As Thufrat heard this, he let a sigh escape from his lips as he started to ponder. What were they supposed to do now? Should he just follow them home and ensure their safety? But what about Ark in that case? As he kept thinking, Ark already came up with a solution, all he needed to do now was try to communicate with them, and convey his intentions.
Since they were kids and needed help getting home, he bent down and turned his back to the kids. As he did this, he signaled with his head to try and make them hop onto his back. The kids were a little confused, but Thufrat could read the situation, he was getting used to this wolf after all.
"You can hop onto his back, and if you give him the directions, he will take you home!" This was what Thufrat assumed, but he still looked at Ark when he said this, to get his affirmation. Ark naturally nodded and looked gently at the kids.
The kids were a bit reluctant, but all their worries melted away after they looked into the wolf's eyes. They didn't really know why, but they both felt like they could trust this wolf, and it did help them after all.
"Come on George, I'll help you up first!" As the little sister said this, she took the little boys hand and pulled him up to his feet, they both proceeded to Ark's back after that and tried to get on. As George was getting on, he was still afraid, but Ark released a smooth gentle light, that seemed to soothe the boy's worries. Thufrat helped both of them to get on since they seemed to struggle a little, and they soon took off.
As Ark started to walk, he could hear Thufrat yell at him from behind.
"I'll wait for you in the tree, ok?"
Ark gently nodded his head, and then followed the little kids' directions. He never really expected to ever have someone sit on his back in this life, but since they were kids, in need, he didn't think too much of it. It would be an entirely different story if it was an adult, and Ark would probably never let an adult on his back, which was quite reasonable. It's pretty normal to give a kid a piggy-back ride, but it would be pretty weird to give one to an adult. Not that Ark ever thought that it was bad to weird, it was quite the opposite really. I mean what defines normal anyway? Being like everyone else? Wouldn't that make it a bad thing? Who would want to be like everyone else, one in the crowd, not sticking out in any way? Wouldn't that kind of life be pretty miserable? Ark didn't really know, it was all just opinions anyway.
He did ponder this kind of stuff a bit too much in his previous life anyway. Just think about it a little, what makes a person normal? Not being unique and sticking out? But isn't everyone supposed to be unique? Wouldn't that make being unique a normal thing? But then why did people get bullied for being themselves, for being unique, and not like everyone else? The minds of people are scary places, and Ark didn't really understand people sometimes. What was the point of bullying someone to make yourself seem superior? Why would you feel superior from that? These were the kinds of thoughts that he genuinely couldn't wrap his head around. But this wasn't the time to be thinking of stuff like that.
As he didn't want to spend too much time on this, he ran quite fast, but not full-speed, he didn't want to scare the kids anyway. It didn't even take half an hour before the forest seemed to end and Ark could see a crude fence surrounding a humble little village. At the entrance to the village, there was a gathering of people. The gathering consisted of all kinds of people, elderly, young, middle-aged, teens, all ages. Some of them were even armed, mostly the men though. Some people in the midst of this gathering seemed like they were about to head out on an expedition.
Ark could naturally guess that the people were going to start looking for the kids. Not that they would get the chance to. As Ark thought about this, a villager saw him and started to scream.
"MONSTER!"
This immediately caught the attention of all the other villagers, as they looked towards Ark. The armed ones got into their comfortable stances. They seemed like they were about to fight until a young man with sharp ocular abilities stepped forward.
"Stand down!"
This, of course, incited the crowd, and not just a little bit.
"Huh?"
"What the hell are you saying?"
"Since when can you order me around kiddo?"
These were the kinds of responses the young man got. He only smiled wryly as he started to speak again.
"Look closer, the wolf carries the kids on its back!"
As the young man said this, the people looked a little closer, and soon shut their mouths, as their eyes widened. On the back of the wolf sat two kids, one of them, the boy, seemed to be wounded on his right leg.
As the crowd was stunned, a young girl soon ran forward. Ark was a bit surprised to see this, but he might as well see what she wanted before he left this place. The young girl was about 16 years old. She had fair skin, albeit with a slight tan. Her eyes were an emerald shade of green, and her blond hair cascaded down onto her shoulders, and down her back.
When the girl got within 15 meters of Ark, she suddenly knelt down onto the ground right in front of him.
"Please spare my siblings!"
"I'll do absolutely anything!"
As the girl said, a tear couldn't help but run down her cheek as she watched the wolf fearfully. Ark didn't give the children on his back much of a chance to respond before he started to laugh a little. The people were completely dumbfounded by this, if it was a normal case, they would be very scared if the wolf started to laugh since it would seem very sinister. But this time, it was different. They didn't really know why, but the wolf's laugh was quite soothing for the soul, and most of the crowd seemed to calm down when they heard it.
The girl was also surprised, she didn't really know how to react to this, she didn't need to though. Since Ark knelt down the next second, and let the kids off his back. The kids, excited to come home, ran to their sister. But before they came to her, they stopped, looked back, and bowed as they thanked the wolf.
"Thank you mister wolf!"
As Ark heard this sincere thanks, he was a bit delighted, as he nodded his head and turned around. He suddenly started to radiate a holy light as he zoomed away into the distance. He seemed like a holy entity to these villagers as he disappeared from their vision. Of course, they didn't know that the light was just there to heal Ark's injuries and fatigue.
The girl that had knelt down on the ground was completely speechless, she just sat there and hugged her siblings, as she had no idea what had just happened.