Prince John is bored; he desires entertainment! Odo joins the circus, Rebecca and Ivanhoe polish-up their double act, and John, Falco, and company become the unsuspecting audience. The stage is set for the thrills, spills, and laughter when the Dark Knight seeks to free the mysterious "Goldenbird" from the clutches of the Rock Witch.
The game has begun. The stakes: beyond measure. For the winner: mastery of an awful power. For the loser: a cruel death and eternal damnation. In a cosmic contest kept mercifully hidden for a thousand years, Ivanhoe and his comrades find themselves as human pawns in the pitiless hands of the Gamesmaster.
Odo's misspent youth resurfaces when he returns to his roots to purloin a very special book that provides him with the opportunity of a little "further education". The ex-sorcerer's apprentice decides to put his training into practice, with chaotic results! Ivanhoe loses his heart, and Odo loses his grip when he opens the fatal Book of Spells.
Ivanhoe robs King John's mint to help raise King Richard's ransom, which is being collected by Lord Sirus. Rebecca & Odo take the money to Sirus in York, while Ivanhoe goes to see Fingal, who instructs him on how to find the Ultimate Sword, a weapon with the magical power to tear the fabric of space and time. However, Mordour is also on its trail, and gets there first, using it to travel to Rotherwood Castle in the time of Ivanhoe's infancy in order to kill him - Ivanhoe follows him and tries to thwart his intentions.
It is the year 1193. King Richard "the Lionheart" of England is held prisoner in an Austrian castle. A handful of his men reach home charged with raising a ransom for his release, amongst them is Ivanhoe, who also wants to make peace with his father, Lord Cedric of Rotherwood Castle, for leaving his family to fight in the crusades.