Yesugei, khan of the Wolves, destroys a Tartar raiding party in a blizzard and rides home to find his second son being born, the infant's fist closed around a black clot of blood. His mother reads it as a life shadowed by death. His father declares he will be iron and names him Temüjin. Years later a twelve-year-old Temüjin leads his brothers up a towering red hill to steal eagle chicks, only to watch Yesugei give the prize he wanted to the bondsman Eeluk. That night his father tells him he will be sent to live among his mother's people, and childhood ends.