When the story opens, it is explained that Peter is working at Professor Kirke's house, Susan has been invited to America for a holiday, and the younger two, Edmund and Lucy, are staying at their cousin Eustace Scrubb's home. Sitting in their temporary room, they both comment on a picture on the wall, how it resembles a Narnian ship. Eustace enters the room, and all three are sucked into the painting. On board the ship the Dawn Treader, Edmund and Lucy are reunited with Caspian who has grown into a young man since they last saw him. He explains that he is on a quest to find seven lords who were friends of his father's. The quest requires them to sail through dangerous waters, encountering new islands where things are not what they seem and finally to sail to the end of the world, hoping to reach Aslan's Land. The first island they encounter is one of the Lone Islands, where they are captured by slave traders, but are rescued the next day when Caspian and his army arrive at the market (having already deposed Governor Gumpus) and announce the abolition of slavery in Narnia. Caspian had already been bought by a man who introduced himself as Lord Bern (one of the missing lords).