Prince Caspian (book)

Published in 1951, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia tells the story of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy's second trip to Narnia where they discover that the evil usurper Miraz has taken control of Narnia. This evil ruler has tried to kill off the magical creatures of Narnia, but there are still many hiding in the remote corners of the land. The four children help the young Prince Caspian organize his army of Talking Beasts and, with the help of the great lion Aslan, Narnia is once more freed of evil.

Plot
It has been 1300 years since The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Narnia is controlled by the Telmarines. The young Telmarine Prince Caspian is living with his Uncle King Miraz until he is old enough to take the throne himself. First he is cared for by a nurse, who tells him stories of Old Narnia. When Miraz hears that the nurse has been filling Caspian's head with these things, he has her sent away and brings in a tutor for him: Doctor Cornelius. Cornelius, actually a half-dwarf who is posing as a human, teaches him secretly the true history of Narnia that the Telmarines are suppressing; that it was a country not of humans but of talking animals and magical creatures, which the Telmarines conquered and now deny exist.

Eventually, Miraz's wife gives birth to a son. Cornelius helps Caspian flee for his life, since Miraz is a usurper who has killed Caspian's father, King Caspian IX, and will kill Caspian so his own son can be King. Caspian rides from the castle secretly at night, taking with him Queen Susan's magic horn, which Doctor Cornelius gives him. While riding through the forest in a storm, he runs into a tree and is knocked unconscious.

He awakes in a den with creatures that he once thought were myth; two Dwarfs and a talking badger, who have rescued him. The black dwarf Nikabrik advocates killing him, but the Badger Trufflehunter and the red dwarf Trumpkin restrain him. Caspian explains who he is and why he has fled. Trufflehunter says that he remembers how Narnia was only right when a human was king. With this in mind, they take him to visit other Old Narnians in hiding, and summon a Great Counsel to decide whether to accept Caspian as their king. On this trip, he meets the Three Bulgy Bears, Pattertwig the squirrel, the Seven Brothers of the Shuddering Wood, Glenstorm the centaur, and Reepicheep the mouse.

The Great Council is convened at the Dancing Lawns, but before Caspian can begin to speak, the animals scent someone coming. It is Doctor Cornelius. He warns them that Miraz has found out about the Old Narnian resistance, and is heading towards them with his army. They decide to make a stand at Aslan's How, the catacombs built many years ago over the Stone Table. They are besieged there by Miraz's army, and their situation becomes desperate.

Trufflehunter realizes that their time of need has come and suggests that this is the time to blow Queen Susan's Horn, which legend says will summon magical help from the Golden Age of Narnia. Doctor Cornelius and Nikabrik agree and convince Caspian that if they wait much longer, then it will be too late. Pattertwig and Trumpkin are sent to Lantern Waste and Cair Paravel, respectively, the old Narnian sites where they think the help may appear. They leave immediately and Caspian blows the horn the following sunrise.

Meanwhile on Earth, the Pevensies are at a train station waiting for trains to take them back to their boarding schools. Suddenly they feel a magical force dragging them somewhere. They hold hands, and materialize on a wooded island. They speculate whether this is Narnia, but it doesn't look like any part of Narnia they remember. With a limited supply of food and no water, they explore until they find a stream. With night approaching and their food gone, they head back into the forest. They find an apple orchard near an ancient ruined castle. Slowly they realize that this is the very castle they reigned in in Narnia, Cair Paravel, but somehow thousands of years have passed since their time. Using their knowledge of the castle, they find the door to their treasure room and hack it open. Counting the step affirms even more that this ruin is their old castle. Deciding not to waste the battery of their electric torch, the children only take the Gifts, the magical weapons they received from Father Christmas during the Winter Revolution minus Susan's horn.

The next day, a boat comes into view in the channel between them and the mainland. The two men in it are attempting to drown a dwarf, but Susan's arrows save his life, and the two men swim for the far bank. After rescuing the dwarf from the drifting boat, which they hide on the far side of the island, they go fishing and eat breakfast, during which time the dwarf, who is Trumpkin, relates the story of Caspian. The children are excited to find that they have been called back to help Narnia in a time of need, but Trumpkin doesn't take them seriously, since he doesn't believe the old stories and sees them as kids. The children devise a plan to make him take them seriously. Edmund challenges him to a friendly broadsword duel, and disarms him after a very well-fought bout. Susan invites him to a shooting competition, and beats him. Trumpkin mentions that his war wound was bothering him, and Lucy asks to see it and heals it instantly with a drop of her magic cordial. The dwarf, now quite won over, suggests they leave to join Caspian at once, which they do.

They take the boat and travel close to the shore. They land at Glasswater creek and head for the River Rush, hoping to cross it and make for the Fords of Beruna, now Beruna's Bridge. At the River Rush, they find that over time, the river has become a gorge and there is no way to cross. Lucy thinks she sees Aslan, who wants them to go his way, but Trumpkin, Peter and Susan outvote Lucy and Edmund, who supports her. They go the other way, and straight into a Telmarine ambush. After getting away, Peter admits that Lucy is right and she leads them back.

They camp for the night on the way back, and during the night, Lucy wakes up to the sounds of trees dancing. She follows these sounds to the site of the dance, and finds Aslan has come to wake the Dryads, the spirits of the trees. After comforting her, Aslan tells her to go and wake the others, and tell them to follow him. Lucy asks if the others will see him too. Aslan says, "Not at first". "But they won't believe me!", Lucy gasps. "It doesn't matter", says Aslan. Lucy sobs, appalled at the task of trying to convince four older people to follow an invisible guide in a dangerous nighttime hike. But Aslan breathes courage into her and she does what is necessary.

Peter and Susan are hard to stir, but Edmund, when he is finally awake, believes her and helps to persuade the others even though he can't see Aslan. After a long ill-tempered debate, Lucy convinces the others to follow her, even though they can't see Aslan themselves. Aslan leads them on a secret path down the gorge of the Rush and on toward the Stone Table. Edmund is the only one who really believes that there is a way down. As a result of his belief, he begins to see Aslan's shadow. As the hike goes on, as each person begins to believe, he sees more of Aslan. First Edmund, then Peter, Susan, and finally Trumpkin see him. Finally they reach Aslan's How and join the army of Old Narnians.

Meanwhile, in Aslan's How, Caspian is having a council of war with Nikabrik, Trufflehunter and Cornelius. They haven't received any help from Queen Susan's Horn, and are desperate. Nikabrik has brought two evil looking creatures with him. Embittered by the hopeless fight, he proposes seeking help from the evil powers from the Narnian past. With the help of his companions, he wants to resurrect the spirit of the White Witch. Caspian thunders, "So that is your plan, Nikabrik. Black sorcery and the calling up of an accursed spirit. And I see now who your companions are: a Hag and a Were-wolf!". A fight breaks out, the light is knocked over, Peter, Edmund and Trumpkin rush in, and in the dark Nikabrik, the Hag and the Were-wolf are killed.

Peter and Edmund greet Caspian, and they reassure him they are there to put him on the throne, not replace him. Peter proposes he challenge Miraz to a single combat to decide the war. Edmund takes the written challenge under a white flag to the enemy camp. When he receives the challenge, Miraz is at first inclined to refuse it, since he has the larger force. But two ambitious barons, Lord Glozelle and Lord Sopespian, cleverly play on his vanity and manipulate him to accept it, since they see it as a way to get rid of Miraz and take Narnia for themselves.

The duel at first does not go well for Peter, but then Miraz trips and falls down. Glozelle and Sopespian leap up and accuse Peter of stabbing him in the back, rousing the two armies, and the Second Battle of Beruna begins. During the battle Glozelle stops to stab the fallen Miraz himself. Then a rushing wind is heard, and Aslan returns with an army of the spirits of the trees. The superstitious Telmarine army goes mad from fear at this, and retreats in a rout to the Fords of Beruna, where they find the bridge has been destroyed, and they throw down their weapons and surrender.

The next day, after a feast, Aslan has a doorway made of sticks set up on the grass. He assembles the defeated Telmarines, and tells them that Narnia henceforward belongs as much to the Old Narnians, the talking beasts, Fauns, Dryads, and other creatures, as it does to the humans. Any Telmarines who want to stay on that basis are welcome, but for those who want to leave, he will provide another home. Telmarines originally came from Earth; they were a race of sailors who were shipwrecked on a tropical island, and blundered through a magical portal between worlds into the land of Telmar. The tropical island they came from is now uninhabited, and Aslan will send them back there to live if they wish. The children are told it is time for them to return.

The Telmarines who choose the tropical island pass through the magical doorway, followed by the Pevensie children, who find themselves back on Earth in the railroad station. Peter and Susan were told by Aslan before they left that they will not return to Narnia, but Edmund and Lucy will.