As unwanted and rebellious boys, they find refuge in Ironhall....Years later they emerge as the finest swordsmen in the realm—A magical ritual of a sword through the heart binds each to his ward—if not the king himself, then to whomever else the monarch designates—with absolute loyalty. And the greatest Blade of them all was—and is—Sir Durendal. But a lifelong dream of protecting his beloved liege from enemies, traitors, and monsters is dashed to bits when Durendal is bonded till death to an effete noble fop at his king's orders. Yet Destiny has many strange and inscrutable plans for the young knight—for a mission, a contest, and, perhaps, a treasure await him in a faraway land. But he soon finds himself enmeshed in treason and foul intrigues, compelled to betray the king he had hoped to serve. The Blades have ways to protect their own, but death and madness haunt the path to salvation—and few ever return unscathed.

As unwanted, rebellious boys, they found refuge in Ironhall. . .Years later they emerged as the finest swordsmen in the realm—The Kings Blades Once bound, a Blade's life is no longer his own. Only death can break the gilded chain of enchantment that binds the bodyguard to the man he is sworn to defend. And never in living memory has a candidate refused the honor of serving his king. . .until now. Young Wasp never intended to be a rebel. Yet, at the sacred ceremony of binding, he follows the lead of his friend Raider, and together they spurn the wishes of King Ambrose himself. Now Raider and Wasp are outlaws hunted by the very Blades whose ranks they were a breath away from entering, and joined together by a destiny that binds them more securely than any knot tradition and sorcery might tie. Amid the turmoil their "treachery" has inspired, Wasp and Raider must undertake a desperate journey into the heart of the dreaded Fire Lands. And the outcome of their terrifying confrontation with dark truth and darker magic in this realm of monsters, ghosts, and half-men will ultimately determine the fate of two kingdoms.

The mightiest swordsmen in the realm, are bound by magic to defend their noble wards...to the death. The King's Blades The unloved child of the unscrupulous King Ambrose,Princess Malinda learned at an early age to fight for what was rightfully hers. Now, with the Kings abrupt death, civil war has become her grim destiny. Making her uncertain way through the blood labyrinth of schemesand betrayals, Malinda can trust none but the Blades of the Royal Guard. But the Blades themselves are in grave peril. And the young Queen faces the most crucialdecision of her life: a choice that will either redeem her kingdom from chaos...or bring ultimate destruction down upon it, her Blades, and herself.

Many legends have emerged from the shadows of Ironhall, yet surely none can surpass the greatness and glory predestined for Sir Beaumont—possessor of the purest and strongest of hearts, and a mind as quick, keen, and accurate as his sword. But the day he sets out in the service of the elderly Lord Wassail turns to a black one, and young Beau's journey ends in horror and blood . . . and disgrace. Banished from the King's Blades, he now faces a grim future as a homeless pariah, a creature to be shunned and despised. But redemption can come from unexpected directions and in unrecognizable guises. Approached in secret by the legendary Durendal, now Grand Master of the Order, the dishonored paragon is offered one last chance to win back his weapon and his place among his brothers in arms. But to do so, Beau must ride alone back through the icy gates of Hell . . . and do battle with the Devil himself.

Elite warrior swordsmen, they are unequalled in any time or realm . . . The King's Blades The King has decreed that new Blades must be sworn into the service of the Grand Duke Rubin, deposed by a foul usurper and currently on the run. But none of the rough youths being readied at Ironhall possess the seasoning to survive what better, more skilled Blades already have not. Still, two woefully unprepared candidates are approached with an offer of early bonding and probable death: deft but dense, rude Ranter, and eager, impetuous Ringwood . . . with a third, the inadequate swordsman but potentially able spy Bellman, enlisted into their threadbare ranks. Joining the Duke's entourage along with the courageous and prescient White Sister Trudy, the would-be champions must restore a rightful ruler to the throne or die in the process. But before them waits an army of the dead. And the Duke whom the Blades must protect to the last drop of their lifeblood is not the liege they imagined . . .

Acclaimed fantasy author Dave Duncan returns to Chivial and the dashing King's Blades—the greatest swordsmen in the world—with a new epic adventure of sword fights, magic, romance, and a Blade unlike any other. Sir Wolf is not your typical King's Blade. Sure, he's smart, athletic, a good dresser, and a phenomenal swordsman. But he hasn't been named the King's Killer for nothing, and after years of dark secrets and painful loyalties to a king he cannot respect, all he wants is to be left alone. But when unknown assailants storm a royal fortress and carry off a former royal mistress, Wolf is dispatched posthaste to investigate. Who were these strangers, what were their motives, and who—or what—was their sinister cat-faced leader? Burdened by the need to comfort his impetuous younger brother, Sir Lynx—the only Blade ever to lose his ward and live—and shadowed by a secretive Inquisitor with her own agenda, Wolf struggles to solve a mystery that threatens the kingdom of Chivial itself. His quest will lead him into lands of danger and discovery unlike any the Blades have ever seen, and to an answer beyond his wildest nightmares.

Before They Could be Blades... They Were the King's Daggers. Young Stalwart, known as Wart to his fellow students, is expelled from the academy for King's Blades, only to be plunged into a current of breathless intrigue and danger. Together with Emerald, a former White Sister, Wart must survive sorcery, swordplay, ambush, a chimera, a quagmire, and more, "and" uncover a devious plot to assassinate their king...and prove himself worthy of a place among the King's Blades.

Sir Stalwart and Emerald set off for an ancient lord's house known as Smealey Hall, where they believe the source of evil—in the form of murder—lies, and along the way they are joined by Badger, a Blade-in-training.

The world's most deadly assassin has been hired to kill King Ambrose. Once again King's Daggers are plunged into danger, because only White Sister Emerald can identify the killer's magic and only Sir Stalwart knows what he looks like. The two must trap the killer before he can strike the king—or at them. As the trial of death leads back to Ironhall, the swordsmen school Stalwart so recently left, he finds he is a boy sent to do a man's job—and Emerald is a girl sent to do a boy's.

The Tales of the King’s Blades continues…. So what happens next? Sir Rhys, Sir Sharp, and Sir Trusty—three of the world’s greatest swordsmen―are released from the Royal Guard in their twenties with no pension, no job, and no money. Rhys’s father is the great Blade hero, Sir Spender, who finds himself in the same predicament. Spender knows of a fabulous treasure that was lost more than thirty years ago and thinks he knows where it may be. Why shouldn’t the four of them go and look for it? But King Ambrose also remembers that treasure and believes it belongs to him. Why shouldn’t he try to stop them?

Niall's father taught him about honour, about the value of a man keeping his word. And this is a tenet by which Niall has lived his life, even while training to be a Blade. Now, however, King Ambrose is dead, and his daughter, Malinda, wears the Chivian Crown, and even as Niall is made Prime of the Blades, he's been put under dire oath to the Queen, made a spy, and about to face a challenge to everything he had been taught about honour and the privilege of being a Queen's Blade. In this the last of the King's Blades series, Dave Duncan takes his readers on a high adventure and what will be remembered as a deeply satisfying conclusion.