The Parliament of Owls
- The moment that Jill begins to feel truly sleepy, Glimfeather (the owl) appears at her window and scares her half to death.
- He's going to take her to a parliament—or official meeting—of the owls of Narnia to figure out what she and Scrubb must do next.
- After a scary ride on Glimfeather's back (he insists on catching a bat to eat mid-flight), Jill arrives at a kind of ruined tower; it's filled with owls, and Scrubb is there already.
- Eustace is pretty uncomfortable with the whole situation. Because the meeting is so secretive and takes place at night, he thinks that the owls might be traitors to the king.
- He reveals that he's an old friend of King Caspian's and won't take part in any plots against him.
- The owls reassure them of their friendship, though, and say they have important information for them.
- Since many good Narnians have gone missing in the quest for the lost Prince, King Caspian has forbidden anyone else to go on the quest. This means Jill and Scrubb will have to go in secret.
- The owls also tell the children about the disappearance of Prince Rilian. It happened when Rilian was just a boy, out on an excursion with his mother, the Queen.
- As the Queen took a nap outdoors in the middle of the day, a green serpent slithered up and bit her on the hand. She cried out to alert her courtiers, but it was too late, and she died on the spot.
- Rilian followed the snake in the hopes of killing it, but it got away, so after that day, the young Prince would ride out in hopes of finding the creature that killed his lovely mother.
- But something strange began to happen: The other members of the court noticed that Rilian seemed enchanted, and although he was gone all day, his horse didn't seem to have been ridden far.
- Soon, Caspian's faithful friend Lord Drinian decided to ride out with Rilian to see what he did all day; Drinian became suspicious when he saw that Rilian was headed to the same spot where his mother was killed.
- Things got worse when a beautiful lady dressed in green (the same color as the serpent) appeared and seemed to have enchanted Rilian.
- Drinian was upset by what he saw, but he didn't tell the king, and the next day, Rilian rode out alone… never to be seen again. So that's the backstory on Rilian's disappearance.
- Jill thinks that the serpent and the woman are one and the same, and the owls agree—they also make a connection between the green lady and the White Witch (big-time villain from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe).
- Scrubb explains that they have to find the ruined city of the giants first, but the owls find lots of excuses why they can't go on the journey.
- Instead, they will bring Jill and Scrubb to the Marsh-wiggles, who will clearly be more suitable guides.