Shasta's warning and the Narnian relief march connect two urgent journeys: Shasta's exhausted crossing into Narnia and the response of its people to Rabadash's attack on Anvard. His report initially meets a woodland gathering more inclined to talk than act, but Duffle recognizes the danger, a stag carries the news toward Cair Paravel, and the returning Narnian force rides to the threatened castle. The resulting intervention helps break the siege and defeat the attackers.

Causes and Background

Rabadash's attack is designed as a rapid, limited expedition. He proposes taking only two hundred horsemen across the desert, surprising Anvard while King Lune's castle is unprepared, then riding onward through Narnia to Cair Paravel. His plan depends on speed and secrecy, and on the expectation that the Narnian High King will be away. The attack on Anvard is therefore not a distant possibility when Shasta reaches Narnia: it is already under way.

The desert crossing that makes the warning possible has been punishing. Shasta and his companions share a small amount of food and water in the shade of a rock about fifty yards long and thirty feet high; the horses drink from a skin bottle, and no one gets enough. The party continues through the day and into the night, still looking for the narrow valley described by Sallowpad. Shasta's later arrival in Narnia carries the cost of that journey, but also the information needed to respond to Rabadash's surprise attack.

The Warning and Its First Response

In a Narnian wood, Shasta tells a Hedgehog that an army of Calormenes is attacking Anvard and asks whether the High King should be told. The Hedgehog is surprised by the news and treats the distance to Calormen as almost unimaginable. Shasta's report exposes a gap between the threatened castle and the woodland creatures' sense of urgency: they discuss the danger, but do not initially turn that discussion into action.

Duffle, a Red Dwarf, interrupts the delay. He insists that news must go to Cair Paravel at once, that the army must be called out, and that Narnia must help King Lune. When the Hedgehog points out that the High King is away in the North fighting giants, Duffle asks who can carry the message. A stag answers that he has the speed, asks how many Calormenes are involved, and learns that there are two hundred under Prince Rabadash. Before the conversation can continue, the stag is already running through the trees.

The contrast between the Hedgehog's digressions and Duffle's practical urgency gives the warning its first consequence: Shasta's report becomes an organized appeal for help. The stag's speed turns that appeal into a message capable of reaching Narnian leadership, even though the High King himself is not at Cair Paravel.

The News Reaches the Returning Force

Shasta is given shelter with the Dwarfs after the night journey. His bed is made of heather on the floor because the beds in the house are too small for him, and he sleeps through most of the following day. The respite places his arrival in the story alongside the rapid movement of the warning: while Shasta recovers, the message he helped set in motion is travelling onward.

The Narnian force arrives with King Edmund and Queen Lucy. Corin, who has returned to Cair Paravel, explains that he and the others reached the harbor the previous morning and that Chervy the Stag was the first person they encountered there, carrying news of the attack on Anvard. The report has thus found the returning party promptly. Corin also recognizes Shasta as the boy mistaken for him at Tashbaan, joining the warning's military consequence to their earlier encounter.

Relief at Anvard

The relief force rides toward Anvard, where the attack is already in progress. From a ridge, the scene opens onto a small castle with its gate shut and portcullis lowered. About fifty Calormenes are striking the gate with a tree trunk, while the main body of Rabadash's men is on foot, ready to assault it. When the attackers see the Narnians coming down the ridge, they remount and turn to meet them. The swift change from siege to battle shows how close the defenders are to being overwhelmed—and how the warning has brought help before the attack can succeed.

The battle is confused from Shasta's position. His sword is knocked away, his reins become tangled, and he falls from his horse. Meanwhile, defenders emerge from Anvard in a sortie led by King Lune, with King Edmund fighting alongside them. The Hermit, watching from his enclosure, reports that the ram is down, the gates have opened, and the attackers are being pressed from several directions. The Cats attack the ram crew and the Giants close in on one side; King Lune's force comes against the Calormenes from the rear. The attackers are eventually surrounded, surrendering or fleeing, and the Calormene force is defeated.

Consequences and Significance

The march answers the practical question Shasta asked in the wood: whether anything should be done about the attack and whether the High King should be told. Duffle's insistence, the stag's speed, and the returning force's response make the news actionable. The relief does not prevent Rabadash from reaching Anvard, but it reaches the castle while the siege is still being contested and changes the battle's balance.

The episode also completes a chain of guidance and consequence that Shasta cannot yet understand. When he later tells Aslan about the journey, the attacks and encounters he had experienced as separate misfortunes are revealed as part of Aslan's direction: one of the lions gave the horses strength for the last mile so that Shasta could reach King Lune in time. The warning's immediate effect is military, but its place in the wider story is personal as well: Shasta's arrival and report are bound to the timing of the rescue, even though he has travelled without knowing the full design.