Chapter 61: Running Away from Home

“Keep your center of gravity, steady your hands, relax your arms, and put your strength in your legs…” Under Red Flame’s guidance, Little Phil was waving a wooden sword in the middle of the courtyard without stopping. This was the little fellow’s daily sword practice time. He might be the most diligent student I had ever seen. Since breakfast, his practice had not stopped. Even an adult would probably be worn out by such a huge amount of exercise, but although he was already panting and sweat covered his forehead, he showed no sign of stopping.

“Ah!” Suddenly, Phil stepped on a small stone, slipped, and fell to the ground. He tried to get up, but the fall seemed to have sprained his ankle. He had barely gotten halfway up when he fell back down.

“Are you all right?” Red Flame hurried over and asked with concern. He habitually grabbed the child’s ankle to check the injury.

But Little Phil silently pushed him away, struggled to his feet, and resumed his sword practice.

Red Flame looked at this stubborn child with an embarrassed expression, sighed, then softened his tone and said, “You fell just now because your footing was not steady enough. When you step forward, you must not use up all your strength. Leave some in reserve. Don’t complain that you are too slow. You are not yet at the stage where you should seek speed…”

Although the movements in his hands did not stop at all, Little Phil obviously took Red Flame’s advice to heart. In the following practice, his movements became much steadier. The little fellow had great talent in combat. During the time he received Red Flame’s strict teaching, he made great progress in the use of various light weapon s. Although this had a lot to do with the family education he had received since childhood, the main credit went to Red Flame.

I had no idea what had moved Red Flame to bring him from the Skull Flag Islands to Delanmaya, and to spend large amounts of time every day teaching him various combat skills. To do this, he even gave up many chances to be alone with Kelsey. Especially whenever Kelsey led her fleet to plunder Winston’s transport ships on the Morning Light River and prevent them from resupplying Davo City, he would stay with Little Phil all day, teaching him swordplay and reading with him. What amused me was that this brave Elf never dared to face this poor child alone. Every time he came, he needed someone to accompany him—either Poirot or Eliot. This time, it was me.

“…You have to understand, my friend, I don’t know how to face him. Every time I am alone with him I… I don’t know what to say. You didn’t see the way he looked at me, as if… as if I had betrayed him. I don’t know how to say it…” That bold warrior who had once dominated the battlefield pleaded with me like this. He was incoherent and looked flustered, nothing like the Red Flame we knew, and it was impossible to refuse him.

During this time, Kelsey also often came to visit Little Phil. She did not mind at all that Red Flame was putting so much energy into the child. On the contrary, she strongly supported it and encouraged him to do so. She probably learned about Little Phil’s likes from the Dark Elf who doted on the child, so every time she came, she brought a big bucket of fresh juice. But as far as I knew, Little Phil would not even touch anything Kelsey left behind. He would either keep his mouth shut and not say a word to Kelsey, or he would yell at her, shouting things about wanting to kill her. Whenever that happened, Red Flame’s face looked very bad. The kind female pirate was never angry, though. Although the child’s attitude made her a little sad, she still treated him with amazing patience and friendliness.

“All right, that’s enough for today’s practice. You should rest.” Just as I was finding the delicate relationship between this teacher and student quite interesting, Red Flame said this.

Little Phil ignored him and continued to swing the wooden sword seriously and vigorously.

“You can stop now.” Red Flame thought he had not heard, so he raised his voice.

His student still did not stop. Judging by his energy, he could probably keep practicing so hard all day without stopping.

“I said, stop!” Realizing that the child was deliberately disobeying his instruction, Red Flame suddenly became irritable. He rushed to Little Phil’s side, wanting to stop the child’s movements. Little Phil suddenly turned around angrily and chopped at his teacher with the wooden sword in his hand.

Of course, his sneak attack did not succeed. Red Flame nimbly dodged the child’s attack, grabbed the wooden sword with one hand, snatched it over, and furiously broke it over his knee. Under such a violent impact, the hard wooden sword snapped into two pieces.

“I said stop!” Red Flame roared at Little Phil. He was truly angry. I had never seen this proud and heroic Elf so furious. His expression was terrible; even the fiercest beast could not compare with a Ranger in a rage. I was really afraid that in his fury he might do something he would regret, so I hurried over, ready to stop him if necessary.

Little Phil said nothing, but stubbornly and firmly met the gaze of Red Flame’s only eye. In his eyes I saw no fear.

“I said… stop…” As the two stared at each other, Red Flame suddenly softened. He lowered his head weakly and said in a voice we could barely hear, “Excessive fatigue will harm your body. If you want… if you want revenge, you must take good care of your body.”

After saying this, he left in a somewhat flustered manner. The broken wooden sword fell from his hand to the ground dejectedly, making no sound.

“You shouldn’t treat him like that, child. He loves you and has always taken care of you.” I watched my friend’s back as he walked away helplessly, then said to Little Phil.

“He lied to me. He said he would help me take revenge, but he is on the same side as that female pirate. They deceived me together. You too.” Little Phil shouted, and big tears fell from his eyes.

“We are all sorry about your father’s death, Phil, but that was not Kelsey’s fault. It was not your father’s fault either. It was… it was the fault of that dead Count… Of course, he is dead too, but your hatred should not be directed at him.” Red Flame indeed could not face this child, could not face his hatred, could not face his grief. Even I could not tell him with any confidence that his hatred toward Kelsey had no reason. My defense was incoherent and unconvincing.

“I will kill her! One day I will kill her to avenge my father!” Little Phil did not listen to me at all. He shouted stubbornly, loudly enough for the departing Red Flame to hear. But his eyes carried a complicated meaning—it seemed that his respect for Red Flame was greater than his hostility, and beyond that, there was also a deep attachment.

I looked at him at a loss. I should have erased the hatred in his heart and helped him live the happy life of an ordinary person, but what could I say? Tell the child, “Your father is dead, your mother is dead, but none of that matters. Just let it pass”? That was impossible. Perhaps his accusations against Kelsey and Red Flame were unreasonable, but his hatred needed an outlet. Otherwise, how could his young shoulders bear a grief that even adults found hard to bear?

…

“What should I do with him?” That evening at the tavern, Red Flame drank ale in large gulps and asked me gloomily. The Ranger’s boldness and carefree spirit crumbled in front of this child, especially when the spear of hatred was pointed at the person closest to him.

“I like this child…” he said. “I really like him. He is very stubborn and very hardworking, just like when I was young. I feel he is like… like…”

“Like your son,” I added. “I can see it.”

“My son? I actually have that feeling. Indeed, yes, that’s right. But, but he happens to… ah!” He let out a heavy sigh and frowned deeply, like a father with a heavy heart. Who said elves were an ageless race? At that moment, my friend seemed to have aged a great deal.

“Actually, he loves you too,” I tried to ease Red Flame’s misery.

“Loves me? He swung his sword at me.” When he said this, Red Flame’s tone was full of disappointment and complaint.

“Don’t be so petty, my friend. That was just a piece of rotten wood. The child respects you. He listens to your teachings and is very attentive to every word you say. He is just not used to your relationship yet. You cannot ask too much of a child who has lost both parents, at least not now.”

“But he and Kelsey…” Red Flame hesitated.

“Let it be for now. He just cannot yet accept the fact that his father died in shame. He does not hate you.”

“I hope you are right, Jeff.” Red Flame’s cup clinked with mine. I was glad he looked much more relaxed. The soul of that proud and arrogant Ranger had returned to his body. “Maybe I should have a good talk with him. I will make him like us.”

At that moment, none of us thought that we had already missed the last chance to communicate with this child…

The next morning, I was awakened by a hurried knocking on the door. When I opened the door, rubbing my sleepy eyes, I was suddenly shaken back and forth by a pair of strong arms.

“Jeff, have you seen Phil? By the good gods’ grace, you saw him. Tell me you saw him.” Red Flame stared at my face like a hungry dog staring at a bone. Behind him were Poirot with an uncertain expression and Eliot, who looked anxious.

“Slow down, my friend. What’s wrong? What happened to Little Phil?” My mind was still not clear, having just woken up.

“Gods, he is not here with you? This is really bad. Where could he go?” Red Flame was about to turn and leave, but I grabbed him.

“Tell me clearly, what happened to Little Phil?”

“This morning, I went to the place where he practices sword like usual. I didn’t see him, but I saw this…” He handed me a note, on which was written:

Mr. Red Flame:

I am leaving this place. Please do not worry about me. I will come back to take revenge. I promise.

Philophsenia de Fasselley

“What is he going to do? Where can he go?” Red Flame was frantic, pacing back and forth.

“If you must define his behavior…” I hurried back to my room and put on my coat. “This is called running away from home—the first step to becoming a delinquent. Let’s split up to search. Red Flame and Poirot, go to the guards at the city gate and tell them to stop Little Phil if they see him. Eliot, go ask Fred for help. I’ll make inquiries in the nearby streets. If no one finds him, we’ll gather at Phil’s place at noon.”

We turned the city upside down with all our efforts but found no trace of Little Phil. Then a guard who had just come off duty told us that before the gate closed last night, a child had passed through on a delivery cart. From his description, it was probably Red Flame’s clever student.

Beyond the city was a vast wilderness. Little Phil could have chosen any direction to leave. It was meaningless to keep searching. We gave up our efforts and accompanied Red Flame to Little Phil’s place.

“Clothes, food, money… he even took his father’s sword and first-aid medicine. Quite thorough.” Poirot clicked his tongue and said, “You really taught a fine student. He is simply an expert at long-distance travel.”

“All right, Red Flame. Fred has already sent people to search the city. If they find him, there will be news.” The kind Dark Elf comforted her distant relative, but it did not seem to help very much.

“At least we know he took the necessities of life.” I patted Red Flame’s shoulder and said, “He won’t be in any big trouble for now. Phil is a smart child, my friend. He knows how to take care of himself.”

“Did I do something wrong? He should have told me, should have said it to me.” The Elf sat off to one side, frustrated. “I had planned to have an honest talk with him today. No matter how he treated me, I was willing to listen to him. But, but…” He suddenly stood up. “No, I have to go find him. He must be on his way back to Mondika. He is still a child. We can surely catch up with him.”

“Red Flame!” I shouted to stop the restless Elf. “It’s useless. Even if you find him, he won’t come back.”

“I have to go! He blames me. He is right. I have wronged him. I should be responsible for him.” Red Flame shouted at me.

“He doesn’t blame you.” I took out the note Little Phil had left. On the back of the note, the child had written two simple but telling words in tiny handwriting. In his hurry, Red Flame had overlooked them.

Those two words were: Thank you, Teacher.

Looking at these two words that contained no resentment at all, Red Flame’s eyes became a little moist.

“He doesn’t hate you. He doesn’t hate anyone. He knows what is right and what is wrong.” I said to the dejected Red Flame. “He just feels shame, for his father. He cannot yet tell the difference between this and hatred. Let him go. He is a good child. He will come back.”

“But how can I be at ease? He is still a child…”

“We still have a war to fight. It would be even more dangerous to keep him by our side,” I said.

“Don’t worry. I also started wandering alone when I was his age. Before he met you, he was also alone. Have some confidence in your student.” Poirot tried his best to comfort the Ranger. “He will be fine. Jeff is right. Staying with us might be even worse.”

Red Flame finally raised his head. He carefully folded the note in his hand, wrapped it carefully in oilcloth, and put it in his inner pocket.

“He said he would come back. Oh, this child…” The young Elf showed a fatherly smile. The smile was a little bitter, yet it also contained an unconcealable pride.

“All right, Little Phil, let me see what you will become on your own.”

He cast his gaze toward the forest outside the window, and seemed to say to himself,

“You must come back…”