The Healing of Harms
- In the morning, Rilian leaves early because his father is returning to the quay at Cair Paravel. The two children catch a ride on centaurs—a true honor—to meet Rilian at the dock, where they started their adventures. Puddleglum stays behind, though, since his feet are injured.
- When the children arrive at the quay, they see Rilian standing by his father's ship and hear the trumpets heralding the arrival of the old king… But something is wrong.
- They expect to see the old king Caspian walk off the ship, but instead, he's being carried on a stretcher. Caspian, it seems, only has enough strength the see and bless his son, Rilian, before dying. Tear.
- The children are very sad at the passing of the king, and just want to go home. At this moment, Aslan appears to them. He blows at them again, but this time, it is Narnia that is blown away.
- Jill and Eustace find themselves standing on Aslan's mountain in no time. As they walk along the stream, they see the body of the dead Caspian lying under the water.
- Aslan, Eustace, and Jill weep into the stream.
- Aslan asks Eustace to pull a thorn out of a thicket nearby and to drive it into his paw—Eustace doesn't want to hurt Aslan, but the Lion insists.
- So Eustace does as he's told, and Aslan lets his blood fall into the water. It washes over Caspian, and pretty soon, the old king begins to get younger.
- Then—you guessed it—Caspian comes to life again and jumps out of the water. The children are amazed and a little freaked out.
- Caspian explains that he has indeed died, but that he's not a ghost. In Narnia or in England he might be, but since he is in "his own country," Caspian is simply alive again. Okay…
- Caspian asks Aslan if he might see Eustace and Jill's world, if only for a moment. Aslan has a good plan for this, and tells the children to arm themselves, but only to hurt (not kill).
- Jill takes a switch off a bush and it becomes a new riding crop, then Aslan blows down the wall between England and the mountain, and the three young people descend onto the grounds of Experiment House.
- The bullies had been coming after them, but when they see the wall blown apart, the splendidly dressed (and armed) young people, and the back of a great lion, they run away in a panic.
- Jill, Eustace, and Caspian have the satisfaction of giving the bullies a good beating. The head of the school sees the commotion and calls the police.
- But by the time the police get there, though, the wall is back in place and the rift between the two worlds is closed—no more lion, no more swords.
- Since the head of the school sounds crazy, there is an investigation into Experiment House, and pretty soon, she is removed from her job and things get a whole lot better for the kids.
- Jill and Eustace stay friends ever after, and Jill uses her precious Narnian clothes for fancy dress balls during the holidays, though Eustace buries his.
- Back in Narnia, Rilian buries his father and mourns; he becomes a good king himself.
- The Narnians return to the opening in the hillside on hot days and enjoy the coolness of the Sunless Sea in Underland.
- Lewis doesn't say that they lived happily ever after, though. Instead, he tells us that Puddleglum predicts that good times don't last. Which probably makes sense, since this book doesn't end the series.