Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis Read Free Book Online

flatterers (as he had instructed them) begged him to become King. And of course he did.”
    “Do you mean he now wants to kill me too?” said Caspian.
    “That is almost certain,” said Doctor Cornelius.
    “But why now?” said Caspian. “I mean, why didn’t he do it long ago if he wanted to? And what harm have I done him?”
    “He has changed his mind about you because of something that happened only two hours ago. The Queen has had a son.”
    “I don’t see what that’s got to do with it,” said Caspian.
    “Don’t see!” exclaimed the Doctor. “Have all my lessons in History and Politics taught you no more than that? 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.
    Caspian felt very queer and said nothing.
    “I can tell you the whole story,” said the Doctor. “But not now. There is no time. You must fly at once.”
    “You’ll come with me?” said Caspian.
    “I dare not,” said the Doctor. “It would make your danger greater. Two are more easily tracked than one. Dear Prince, dear King Caspian, you must be very brave. You must go alone and at once. Try to get across the southern border to the court of King Nain of Archenland. He will be good to you.”
    “Shall I never see you again?” said Caspian in a quavering voice.
    “I hope so, dear King,” said the Doctor. “What friend have I in the wide world except your Majesty? And I have a little magic. But in the meantime, speed is everything. Here are two gifts before you go. This is a little purse of gold—alas, all the treasure in this castle should be your own by rights. And here is something far better.”
    He put in Caspian’s hands something which he could hardly see but which he knew by the feel to be a horn.
    “That,” said Doctor Cornelius, “is the greatest and most sacred treasure of Narnia. Many terrorsI endured, many spells did I utter, to find it, when I was still young. It is the magic horn of Queen Susan herself which she left behind her when she vanished from Narnia at the end of the Golden Age. It is said that whoever blows it shall have strange help—no one can say how strange. It may have the power to call Queen Lucy and King Edmund and Queen Susan and High King Peter back from the past, and they will set all to rights. It may be that it will call up Aslan himself. Take it, King Caspian: but do not use it except at your greatest need. And now, haste, haste, haste. The little door at the very bottom of the Tower, the door into the garden, is unlocked. There we must part.”
    “Can I get my horse Destrier?” said Caspian.
    “He is already saddled and waiting for you just at the corner of the orchard.”
    During the long climb down the winding staircase Cornelius whispered many more words of direction and advice. Caspian’s heart was sinking, but he tried to take it all in. Then came the fresh air in the garden, a fervent handclasp with the Doctor, a run across the lawn, a welcoming whinny from Destrier, and so King Caspian the Tenth left the castle of his fathers. Looking back, he saw fireworks going up to celebrate the birth of the new prince.
    All night he rode southward, choosing by-waysand bridle paths through woods as long as he was in country that he knew; but afterward he kept to the high road. Destrier was as excited as his master at this unusual journey, and Caspian, though tears had come into his eyes at saying good-bye to Doctor Cornelius, felt brave and, in a way, happy, to think that he was King Caspian riding to seek adventures, with his sword on his left hip and Queen