The next book in C.S. Lewis’ series is Prince Caspian. In this story, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie find themselves being drawn back into Narnia to find their old home, the castle of Cair Paravel, in ruins. Narnian years work differently than time in our world, so that many hundreds of years have passed when only a year has passed in the Pevensie’s world. They meet a dwarf who starts telling them the story of Prince Caspian and the danger he’s in.
Caspian finds out from his beloved tutor, Dr. Cornelius, that he must run away as his life is in danger from his uncle, King Miraz:
“Why?” asked Caspian.
“Because you are the true King of Narnia: Caspian the Tenth, the true son and heir of Caspian the Ninth…I wonder you have never asked me before,” said the Doctor, “why, being the son of King Caspian, you are not King Caspian yourself. Everyone except your Majesty knows that Miraz is a usurper. When he first began to rule he did not even pretend to be the King: he called himself Lord Protector. But then your royal mother died…And then, one by one, all the great lords, who had known your father, died or disappeared. Not by accident, either.”
Caspian wondered why Miraz hadn’t killed him already to find out that his aunt has just had a baby boy. Dr. Cornelius explains further:
“Listen. As long as he had no children of his own, he was willing enough that you should be King after he died. He may not have cared much about you, but he would rather you should have the throne than a stranger. Now that he has a son of his own he will want his own son to be the next King. You are in the way. He’ll clear you out of the way.”
“Is he really as bad as that?” said Caspian. “Would he really murder me?”
“He murdered your Father,” said Doctor Cornelius.
So the adventure of the Pevensie children resume in Narnia as they try to help Caspian take his rightful crown in Narnia.
One of my favorite new characters introduce in this story is a mighty valiant warrior mouse named Reepicheep. He has a fiery temper, and if anyone crosses him, even a giant, the wrath of Reepicheep is a fearful thing to behold.