How It All Goes Down
Our story takes place in England, at a very peculiar school called Experiment House. All kinds of unpleasant things happen here—including bullying. Jill Pole, a young girl of about ten, is the object of the bullies this time, and we see her crying in private behind the gym as the story opens. Sad.
Enter Eustace Scrubb, Jill's classmate, who had a life-changing experience in the world of Narnia the school term before and became a totally different person. He tries to comfort Jill by telling her about the wonders of Narnia, but the bullies are on their way to pick on Jill, so they have to escape.
They don't expect to escape the bullies, let alone find a convenient way into Narnia, but you know what? They do anyway. Call it fate or call it literary convenience, but either way, Jill and Scrubb push open a door in the stonewall that surrounds Experiment House and step right onto the high mountain of Aslan's country. Amazing, right?
Not so fast. See, unfortunately for Jill, her pride and conceit land her in trouble right away, causing her to be separated from Scrubb and making their work in Narnia much more difficult. That's right: They're there to work, not just to escape. To this end, Aslan charges Jill with the task of finding the lost Prince Rilian and with memorizing the four signs that will help them in their adventure.
But almost immediately, both Jill and Scrubb miss the first sign by failing to recognize the aged King Caspian, who had been Scrubb's young friend on this last journey into Narnia. Without the king's help, the children have to rely on the wisdom of an owl named Glimfeather, who tells them the story of the Queen's mysterious death from a serpent bite and the disappearance of the young prince. The Marsh-wiggle, Puddleglum, helps them make their dangerous journey north into the land of the giants as they track the lost Prince Rilian.
After many trials and much discomfort, the group meets a beautiful young lady dressed in green and a silent knight in black armor on the giants' bridge. The Lady of the Green Kirtle (as she calls herself) directs the children to visit the "gentle giants" at Castle Harfang for food and shelter, and although Puddleglum objects, the children are miserable and force him into going. As it turns out, the gentle giants want to bake Jill and Scrubb into man-pies for their autumn feast, but the adventurers escape, as they are meant to, under the ruins of the ancient giant city.
But once they are deep underground, they encounter a whole new set of problems. They meet with Earthmen, a curious assortment of gnome-like creatures with spears and swords, who force Jill, Scrubb, and Puddleglum over a dark sea to the house of their queen. When they arrive, the queen is not home, but they do meet a strange "Overlander." They soon learn that he is the same silent black knight that they encountered on the giants' bridge—and that the Lady of the Green Kirtle is the Queen of Underland. Duly noted.
The Black Knight explains about his enchantment, which basically means that he goes into a "fit" every night that requires him to be tied into a silver chair to protect those around him. Scrubb, Jill, and Puddleglum want to stay with him until his fit passes, but have to promise the knight not to do anything he asks while he is raving. As it turns out, though, the Black Knight isn't crazy while he is tied to the chair—in fact, he's only sane at this time of the day. All the rest of the time, he is under enchantment and a slave to the Queen of Underland.
He tries to explain this to Jill, Scrubb, and Puddleglum, but—as promised—they aren't listening to him. They hold steady until the knight asks them to free him in the name of Aslan, which is the fourth and last sign given to Jill by Aslan himself. Puddleglum and Scrubb can't deny Aslan, of course, so they cut the Black Knight free. And it's a good thing, too, because this strange knight turns out to be Prince Rilian himself.
The queen soon appears and tries to enchant them all, nearly convincing him that there is no Overland and no Aslan, but good old Puddleglum helps them snap out of it. The frustrated queen turns into a great green serpent (yes, the same one that killed Rilian's lovely mother) and Rilian has the satisfaction of finally killing it with his sword.
The four friends now have to find their way out of Underland, which seems to be disintegrating after the death of the wicked queen. They make their way through the dark city on horseback and learn from a gnome that everyone in Underland had also been under enchantment. Now the spell has been broken, though, so all the gnomes are returning to their home in the Really Deep Land of Bism. The gnome invites Rilian to come along and explore, but he makes the decision to seek Narnia so that he might see his father, a.k.a. the king, before the old man dies.
A good decision, too, because they break out into a hillside in Narnia and reach King Caspian just as he returns from his sea voyage, about ten seconds before the old king dies. The children and Rilian are heartsick at the death of Caspian, and Aslan allows the sad children to return to his mountain, where they began. When they arrive, they see the body of the dead king in the stream there. After Aslan drops some of his blood into the water, Caspian grows younger and comes alive again. The children learn that though Caspian has died, he lives again in Aslan's country.
Finally, Aslan sends the children back to their own world, but arms them well and sends Caspian along as protection. The three children beat up the bullies with their good Narnian weapons and the terrible head of the school winds up being fired because everyone thinks she's crazy (Lions? Children with swords? Exploding stonewalls? Ha!). Things change for the better at Experiment House, and Jill and Eustace remain fast friends, while back in Narnia, Rilian buries his father and becomes a good king in his own right.