"Scratch it!" Ella cursed. The record was missing. How would she ever find Killian's parents now?
Wait; there was another file, hidden behind this one. It was an extract from the arrivals at one of the Salvation orphanages. Someone must have thought it important enough to take it out of the regular archives and put it here, in the vault.
Scanning the list, Ella's heart thudded in her chest.
The date of the Salvation arrival matched the missing card from the Seranthia orphanage.
"Transfer from Seranthia orphanage. Hair: red. Eyes: blue."
There was nothing else. Whoever had hidden these records had done their job well. Most shocking of all, Killian evidently wasn't from Salvation, land of the templars; he was from Seranthia, capital of the Tingaran Empire.
Ella decided it was time to go to Seranthia.
21
AFTER yet another journey, this time north to Seranthia, Ella immediately continued her search. She had little difficulty locating the Assembly-run orphanage. The place was huge, bigger than the Crystal Palace back in Sarostar.
It still existed as an orphanage; if anything, the priests and templars who ran the place had more work than they could handle. The war had torn families apart, and the resulting poverty and disease had led to countless sad stories of children without parents. Even now, two years later, new arrivals were flooding in.
Ella tried the same tactic that had worked for her back in Stonewater, introducing herself and then getting to the point of her visit.
"Can I see your records?" she asked the matronly woman who held a little girl in one arm and a lad's hand in the other.
"Records?" the woman asked, frowning suspiciously. "What for?"
"I'm looking for someone…" Ella said.
"Oh, I see," the matronly woman's eyebrows went up, and Ella realised the woman thought she was looking for a child she'd given up. "Hold on, stay here, I'll be back in a moment."
Ella waited in the reception chamber while the woman disappeared with the children. While she waited a flaxen-haired boy chased a sweet-faced girl into the room, the girl squealing with mock fear and circling back out.
"Now," Ella heard behind her. The matronly woman, now without her charges, held her hands on her hips. "How long ago was the child brought here?"
"He was transferred to the Alma orphanage in Salvation in five twenty-two," Ella said.
The woman snorted. "Are you pulling my leg?"
"No."
"Listen, I've got bad news for you. There was a fire here in five thirty, eight years after that. Nothing survived. No records. Nothing."
Ella's heart sank. She'd come so close. Once, when just a babe, Killian had been brought to this orphanage. He'd stayed here a short while before being transferred to Salvation. Now, the trail had gone cold.
"Oh," Ella said. "I can see you're busy. I won't take more of your time."
Ella left the reception chamber and walked back to the wrought iron gates, the bars reminding her of nothing so much as a prison. The children seemed happy. Still, Ella thought it was a sad place. These children hadn't had a choice; their parents had been taken from them, along with any chance of a normal life.
Something small and wild crashed into Ella from behind.
Ella looked down and saw a child, with long unruly hair and dirt on his cheeks. The child looked up at her and grinned with mischief.
"Come back, Stefan!" a reedy voice called.
Ella took hold of the child by his upper arm, holding him gently as he squealed, while an old man approached.
He looked as ancient as the orphanage itself, with limbs like sticks, thin white hair and dry skin.
"Thank you, young lady," the old man said, taking the squirming boy from Ella.
"Happy to help." Ella looked into the old man's eyes. "Have you worked here long?"
"Thirty-five… No, thirty-six years, I've worked here," he said proudly.
"Can I ask you something? I'm looking for an orphan who arrived here around five twenty-two. He was transferred to the Alma orphanage in Salvation."
The old man barked a laugh. "Do you know how many boys I've seen come through these gates? That's over twenty years ago!"
"He would have been only small, and he had red hair," Ella said. "A strange red, the colour of bright fire. And blue eyes. The bluest you've ever seen."
The old man's eyes slowly widened, and Ella knew she'd struck a nerve.
"They told me the records were destroyed in a fire," Ella said.
"Run along, Stefan," he said, giving the boy a gentle shove. He waited a moment before speaking. "The records were destroyed long before the fire," the old man said. "I remember, though, I do. You never forget something like that. You're in the wrong place, though, young lady. Try the courthouse."
"The courthouse?"
"The Imperial Courthouse, near the palace. That's where you need to look."
Without further explanation, the old man turned away.
~