Swordfighters Tiger and Del return in this all-new swashbuckling adventure —

filled with all the dramatic action, danger, magic, and the crackling repartee

and verbal fireworks that characterize the national bestselling Sword series.Sword-Born is the latest book in this continuing tale of a powerful

friendship that transforms into something stronger, as two strong, opinionated

people from very different societies live and fight alongside each other… even

as their views of themselves and the world around them change and grow.

Having freed himself from the stone forests of Skandi, Tiger and Del return to

the South. They originally fled the South because, to save Del’s life, Tiger

broke his vows as a seventh level sword-dancer, declaring himself elaii-ali-ma.

Every sword-dancer in the South, even ones he once considered his friends, are

now bound to kill him. They don’t even have to invite him into the circle,

where sword-dances are usually conducted, they can execute him any way they

deem the simplest. Tiger returns to this land, originally, because the South is

his home and he hopes to rebuild the shodo at Alimat, where he was trained.

Soon he is haunted by dreams, dreams of a skeleton, of a woman’s voice that

commands him — "Find me," she says, "And take up the sword."

For the first time in years, life seems settled for Tiger and Del. They run

a school for sword-dancers in the South. They’re raising a two-year-old

daughter. They collect income from their interest in a thriving cantina.

Occasionally Tiger must dance against sword-dancers bent on killing him for

forsaking the oaths and vows of the circle, but for the most part it’s an

idyllic life. Until Tiger’s twenty-five-year-old son accuses him of being

"domesticated."Thus challenged by his own flesh-and-blood to reclaim

his legendary status, Tiger, accompanied by Del and his son, embarks on a

journey northwards that will test his sword skill and resolve, and lead him

and Del into danger from an old enemy. Though Tiger had forsaken his magic

years before, he now faces the choice to reclaim it, and to wield it, in order

to save those he loves.