Twelve-year-old Carmen has a secret: she can talk to her cat Grim. But the powerful Brotherhood has banned pets, and the penalty is death.
Ward is the most wanted boy in the world. The only thing standing between him and the hangman's noose is maste...
"But if the Oliphant exists," Ward said (Snapper snorted), "what do we know about it?"
"Nothing whatsoever," Snapper said, crossing his arms.
"We know it's made of avory," Carmen said.
Snapper uncrossed his arms. "How do you know that?"
"Everyone knows," Mildew said. "It's the commonest knowledge there is."
"Really?" Snapper said, though he looked at Ward when he said this, as if afraid of Mildew.
"And we know it's either a horn, or it's called a horn because avory is horn," Ward said. "And that when you blow it -"
"And how exactly do you blow it?" Snapper said.
"You just puff into it like a bullfrog," Mildew said confidently.
"Oh I don't believe it would be as easy as that." Snapper peered over his ruff at her. "No, not at all."
"Are you saying you'd have to – play something on it?" Slops said.
"The Biblia Magna isn't our only source for the Oliphant. There are lost writings. Arcana. It's no secret that worship of the Sleepers existed in olden times – the Brotherhood tried to stamp it out, executing a lot of innocent people in the process – but the cults were real. And they had their own writings. And I happen to," here he checked himself, "well I believe that possession of the Oliphant isn't enough in and of itself. For without the directions for playing it, the Oliphant is useless. And these directions are as lost as the horn itself."
"What would they look like?" Carmen said.
"Well that I can answer." At this he left the room altogether. When he returned he was carrying another picture frame, which he propped up on the coffee table.
The piece of parchment behind the glass was almost illegible – yellowish-brown, tattered, and faded. Upon it was a language Ward had never seen before. It seemed to consist of stick figures without arms and legs, inked over sets of five horizontal lines.
"This script is ancient," Snapper said. "It's believed to predate the birth of Hatto. Nobody has yet been able to decipher it. What we do know is that this notation," he pointed at the stick figures, "directs the player as to which notes to play, and for how long. What the rest of the symbols mean nobody knows – there are too few of these pieces of parchment left for anyone to piece it together. He turned to them suddenly. "You haven't – seen anything like this before, have you?" A greedy light had come into his eyes.
Ward shook his head, as did Rupert and Mildew.
"If you do, I'd love to have the chance to examine -"
"Don't worry, we'd bring it straight to you,"Mildew said. "What would we want with this crappy old stuff anyway?"
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