Young Shasta lives with Arsheesh the fisherman far south in Calormen,
an aggressive empire where people are enslaved
and the ruler is a
tyrant. One night, when he has been put out of the house to make
room for a travelling dignitary, Shasta makes three discoveries that
radically change is life: the old fisherman is not really his
father and is in fact planning to sell him to the stranger, Shasta is
not really a Calormen, and the stranger’s war-horse can talk.
Bree, the talking horse to whom Shasta confides his troubles, was
captured as a foal from Narnia, the land to the north where animals and
other creatures are equal citizens with humans and people are
free. Shasta and Bree resolve to
escape to Narnia together that
very night.
Shasta has much to learn, starting with how to ride a horse, but a
talking horse is the perfect teacher. With Bree acting as guide
and strategist, they make fair progress north.
One night on their
journey, lions drive Bree and Shasta to meet with
another pair making their escape north from Calormen. Hwin is a
Narnian mare who was also stolen as a foal while her rider, Aravis, is
a Calormen of noble birth fleeing from an arranged marriage to a man
she despises and a vacuous life at court. The four decide to join
forces.
In the great city of Tashbaan, the escape plan begins to unravel when
Shasta is mistaken for Prince Corin of Narnia by a group of visiting
Narnian dignitaries. He is later able to leave the Narnians when
the real Prince Corin – who looks exactly like him – returns, but not
before overhearing the Narnians’ plans to make a surreptitious
departure by night. For her part, Aravis has also overheard
plans, but these are for an invasion of Narnia and Archenland its
neighbour by Rabadash, son of Calormen’s ruler. It is now
imperative that the four reach Archenland and Narnia as quickly as
possible to foil the invasion.
It is a harrowing journey to Archenland. En route, they once
again encounter a lion, whom they finally learn to address as
Aslan. At the end of their journey, the mystery of Shasta’s
identity is solved and all four learn more about themselves than is,
perhaps, comfortable. They also win themselves a home.
This is the third of seven Narnia adventures written by C.S. Lewis.