"Yes, precisely so," says Doctor Cornelius, with the approval Caspian recalls from the times when his tutor had been pleased with his recall or problem-solving. "The time of day – or night – in which it is wrought can have a powerful effect on the operations of White magic."

Caspian, seeing the way Susan shifts, drops a hand to her shoulder and coaxes her to lean into the chair and curl into it the way she might on the couch at Milliways. "Although we didn't quite manage to blow it at dawn," he says, wry. "Miraz fell upon us almost as soon as our messengers had left, and we fought for our lives with no space to breathe for three hours and more."