A man in a robe communes with a really ugly vase – it’s apparently a vase of prophecy and gives him visions of the future. When he uses it this year he gets a vision of Sinbad stabbing him, which rather perturbs him when he passes this onto his son.
Sinbad is similarly perturbed since he learned from Anwar last week that he was going on an important journey but Anwar didn’t really get any more information out of the goddess Kuji than that. Cook is less than amused by this whole trying to see the future thing (and the disparaging of his cooking) and warns Sinbad that he sounds like the silly Stone People. Who apparently have a rock that allows them to see the future – which instantly intrigues Sinbad, of course. Visibly dubious, he tells Sinbad where the stone is – and off they sail.
In the city the son of the vision blokey is frustrated because he thought he was heir apparent when his dad dies and, apparently he isn’t and also some debate about them keeping hold of the stone and not letting anyone else use it. There follows numerous little conversations from different characters about whether you can change the future or whether it’s set and whether it’s a good idea to be able to see it. And a woman in enveloping robes is tracking someone while staring at the camera with dramatic eye liner. Or possibly she’s doing a very poor job of street cleaning, but I think she’s tracking.
Sinbad and Rina enter a tavern to ask about the stone, posing as Pilgrims – and run into the son who is drinking and bitter. He says anyone can see the stone if they petition the great Azdi (his father) to join the order and then have a long, apprenticeship or which he is very very bitter. Rina suggests stealing it, while a bar maid guesses that they’re there to see the stone and just realised what a wasted journey it is – time for flirting from Sinbad. Rina reflects on what a good thieving team they’d make, overheard by Griff (the son) who mocks them for trying to steal the stone and let him describe how utterly impossible it is, in a maze, surrounded by traps.
Anwar convinces Griff of his epic maze solving skills, collects Sinbad and recruits Griff’s help to get to the stone – Griff is so bitter about never being able to see the stone and his father blocking him that he’s willing to steal the key if they will help him through the labyrinth. After Gunnar confirms he’s telling the truth and not setting up a trap with a little threat of violence, they trust him.
On to the labyrinth where Griff uses his shiny key – all secretly watched by dramatic-eyeliner and nifty fedora woman who was tracking them earlier and who follows them into the labyrinth with some impressive backflips.
Anwar interprets the symbols on the walls of the labyrinth to find the correct path (it’s a maze with a map on the walls! That’s totally cheating!) while Rina keeps looking behind, convinced they are being followed, but she doesn’t see nifty fedora-woman.
It takes Anwar a while to figure out the puzzle, during which Griff has an epic temper tantrum – setting off a trap that Gunnar awesomely protects him from. I really like Gunnar, his epic fighting skills coupled with his sense and conscience make him an interesting character. Griff continues to freak out – but then Azdil arrives with his retinue, causing Griff to run off through the maze to escape being noticed. When he runs, he runs into nifty-fedora woman who stares at him dramatically.
Sinbad and his friends, meanwhile, are taken prisoner and, since Azdil recognises Sinbad as the man who will kill him, he orders Sinbad to be executed. Let me predict – Sinbad would never have killed Azdil, but Azdil’s actions will eventually force him to, thereby creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Adzil smacks his son around and announces he will be banished for letting Sinbad and co into the labyrinth. Before he leaves, Griff asks how Sinbad will be executed – Adzil plans to poison him as the surest method (what? Beheading is pretty damn sure. Poisoning is open to all kind of doubt!) Griff begs to be the one to administer the poison to redeem himself and to prevent Adzil being the one who kills them.
