After the great and bloody war in which the peoples of all the free lands, even those of peaceful Orthlund, stood together against the evil of Dan-Tor and Sumeral's dark battalions, Sumeral is dead. His body is destroyed; his will scattered across worlds unknowable. Now, travellers sent out from Anderras Darion and Cadwanen to learn more of the world beyond Orthlund, Fyorlund and Riddin are returning. They bring with them people in need of help and with disturbing tales to tell. Antyr, the Dream Finder; Farnor, to whom the great forest can speak; Vredech, the once preaching brother; Pinnatte, victim of a fearful experiment by the Kyrosdyn; Thyrn, the Caddoran... Their disparate stories come together to yield a terrifying revelation -- somewhere, Sumeral is whole again and struggling to return. But other even darker threads are being drawn together. Andawyr and the Cadwanol, in their relentless search for truth, have touched on a threat to their world more terrible than Sumeral. More terrible by far... The Return of the Sword is the culmination of the epic tales begun in "The Chronicles of Hawklan".