Begins with Rand and Mat, Perrin and Egwene, and their friends and fellow travelers separated into three groups and trying to make their way to Caemlyn as quickly as possible. Perrin and Egwene have fallen in with Elyas and his wolf companions. Perrin is both distressed and intrigued when he discovers that he can understand the wolves. When Thom is apparently killed defending them, Rand and Mat are grief-stricken, but they have no time to mourn, for they know that Darkfriends will soon be on their trail. The boys put Thom's lessons to good use by performing as gleemen to earn their livelihood as they head along the Caemlyn Road. Moiraine begins to teach a reluctant Nynaeve the way of the One Power, challenging much that the Wisdom thought she understood about the world. Soon all three groups find themselves pursued by Darkfriends. Will they be safely reunited or will their enemies begin to pick them off, one by one?