Prologue: After the Coronation
The newly crowned Kings and Queens of Narnia stood on the terrace of Cair Paravel, their new home, watching as the Narnians, their subjects, danced and celebrated in the streets. If the people had noticed the absence of a certain Lion, they did not show it, so great was there joy at seeing the fulfillment of such a long anticipated prophecy.
"This is incredible," said Peter, the new High King, shaking his head in disbelief. "If you would have told me two months – no, two weeks ago – that I would be here today as the High King of a magical country in a wardrobe, and that that magical country would be populated by Talking Beasts and all sorts of creatures from the mythologies, I would have said you were mad!"
"We all would have," said Susan. Her cheeks flushed red as she continued: "And I, especially."
She looked away from her brothers and sisters. Edmund, the younger brother, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Since coming to Narnia, he had barely aged a week, and yet somehow he seemed so much older.
"Cheer up, Su," he said softly. "Remember what I was."
Susan nodded, though her eyes seemed to tear up. A heavy silence fell on all the Pevensies as they thought of how Edmund had almost sold them all to the White Witch for a box of pastries. None of them mentioned it, and none of them mentioned the knife with Edmund's name on it; the one Aslan had taken in his place. They didn't have to mention it. Though it remained unspoken, they knew what the others were thinking and none of them liked to remember it.
Lucy, the youngest, turned away from the celebration that would likely go on all night and stared out at the sea. "I wonder where He is," she whispered to herself. But Edmund heard her.
"I'm sure He's wherever He is most needed," he said. "That's where he always seems to be, anyway."
"But we need him," Lucy insisted gloomily, twisting the handkerchief that Mr. Tumnus had been kind enough to return to her. "We need him here."
"No, we don't," said Peter, putting an arm around his youngest sister. "Aslan was here to establish our rule. We are His way of being here. He wouldn't have given us this authority if we weren't up to it."
"I don't feel up to it," Susan confessed. "I still feel like…me. I don't feel like the Queen that Aslan described. I feel like just plain Susan."
"Maybe that's all Aslan wanted," said Edmund. "He didn't choose a great and powerful Queen. We just got rid of one of those." Everyone chuckled appreciatively and even Edmund had to crack a smile before he finished: "He chose plain Susan."
A peaceful silence followed this pronouncement and a radiant smile lit up Lucy's face. "I love it here, she said. "I want to stay forever."
Edmund chuckled a little to himself. "I don't think we can, Lu," he said. "Can you just imagine the poor Professor and Mrs. Macready trying to explain to the police and our parents why we've suddenly vanished off the face of the earth?"
Lucy giggled at the mental image of the old housekeeper staring in blank confusion at the police as they tore the old mansion apart in search of the four missing children. Her laughter was contagious and soon Edmund and Susan had joined in. But a frown creased Peter's face and on seeing their brother looking so suddenly serious the three youngest quickly sobered.
"What is it?" Susan asked. Peter sighed and turned to look back into the throne room, taking in the enormous structure that was Cair Paravel with a look of bitterness.
"He's right," he said. "We will have to go back someday. Aslan would never allow the Professor and Mrs. Macready to suffer for this. He'll have arranged everything." He turned to Lucy and smiled sadly. "I'm afraid we won't be staying forever, Lucy."
Lucy looked ready to cry, but Edmund just bowed his head. Susan nodded as if she had suspected it all along.
"The question is," Peter continued, "what do we do about it?"
"Is there a point?" Edmund asked. "I mean, if we have to leave and we don't know when, we should try to enjoy Narnia while we're here."
"We have responsibilities, Edmund," Susan chided. "We've been given this kingdom to rule and a people to help. We can't abuse our power and practically abandon them on a mere whim."
"But it's not fair!" Lucy looked close to tears as she spoke. "We have to rule Narnia and take care of its people and fight its battles only to leave them in the end. What good will it do?"
Susan put a comforting arm around Lucy's shoulders. The poor girl was distraught, clearly terrified that at any moment she would be dragged away from all her new friends and her new home. But Edmund had a sudden gleam in his eyes.
"We will have to leave someday," he said. "So we need to take precautions. I suggest we make a vow. We'll vow that we'll do our duty to Narnia and more but that we refuse to become so attached to anything that belongs to this world that we will not be able to leave when Aslan says so."
"How can you not become attached to this world?" Lucy demanded.
"It's our only choice, Lu," said Edmund. "We have to swear that nothing in this world will hold us back from ours, and that nothing here will mean more to us than what Aslan wants."
Lucy didn't look happy about it, but she nodded, showing that in spite of her personal feelings, she understood the wisdom of what Edmund was saying.
As the fires in the fields were lit and the dryads' music reached whole new levels of beauty and volume, High King Peter of Narnia drew his sword and held it out in front of him. One by one, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy grasped the hilt with trembling hands, fully aware of what this meant. When the High King spoke, his voice was soft and solemn, but assured as though in the weeks since coming to Narnia he had passed from boyhood to manhood.
"We, the Kings and Queens of Narnia, swear by the Lion to do our duty to our country, to treat our people with the respect they earn, and defend the nation even at the cost of our own lives to ensure the peaceful future of a world to which we will never belong. We swear that nothing in this world will chain us to this world except for Aslan and that when He wills it we will return to our world."
The sky was nearly dark and the stars were just coming out. An enormous weight seemed to lift from the Kings and Queens' shoulders as they gripped the hilt of Rhindon and solemnly whispered to the night: "This we swear by the Lion."