"This new installment of Marion Zimmer Bradley's beloved Avalon saga tells the story of the ancestors of Avalon, from their life on the doomed island of Atlantis to their escape to the mist-shrouded isle of Britain. Woven into this tale are the journeys of two powerful women whose destinies will shape the fate of the new line of descendants." "Tiriki is Guardian of the Light, but she has grown up in the shadow of the curse of Atlantis. Graceful and...

Eilan, a Druid girl who has been raised in the cult of the Goddess with the priestesses wielding the power, has fallen in love with a young Roman named Gaius. He is a half-Briton whose mother was of the Druid tribes and whose father is a powerful officer in the Roman legions. The clash between these two cultures and the eventual hope of unification through Eilan and Gaius's son is one of the book's many story lines.

Known to the Romans as Helena on the holy isle of Avalon, British princess Eilan fulfills her destiny to bridge the pagan world of the goddess and the new Christian empire founded by her own son, Constantine.

Continuing the saga of the inhabitants of Avalon, a young boy raised in secret after his parents are killed by traitors returns home to prove his worth and lead his followers to victory while wielding the newly forged sword Excalibur.