The height of the Aiel War. For the first time in many years, the Aiel crossed the Spine of the World, separating their homeland from the rest of the continent. The purpose of the invasion is to punish the king of Cairhien for sacrilege. A bloody battle is taking place near the walls of Tar Valon, the stronghold of the powerful Aes Sedai. One of the Aes Sedai, with the ability of Divination, reports the birth on the slopes of the Dragon Mountain of a baby who is destined to become the Dragon Reborn, the future destroyer of the power of the Dark One. This news is currently known only to the Amyrlin Seat and two girls, Moiraine and Siuan, who witnessed the fortune teller's revelation. Now their task is to find the baby at all costs, before the forces of the Dark One do it first... The novel precedes the famous epic “The Wheel of Time”, describing the events that occurred twenty years before the beginning of those about which the main novels of the cycle narrate.