"Arthur", said Morgana without a second thought, pointing to the blond warrior.
"Morgana", young king turned to her with anger in his eyes.
"Both of you stated names. Now it's you turn", black armor turned to Merlin, who was standing with his eyes closed, his hand lifted to his forehead, covering his face. He sighed, thinking about his companions. Maybe it was his fault, that they didn't make any progress to be more cooperative with each other. Maybe he shouldn't just answer riddle after riddle, maybe he should force them to do it. And now they were trapped in another situation and he was the only one being able to do something about it. He didn't know why, but he was feeling like it wasn't the first time, he was the one who had to shoulder all responsibility for them coming out of oppression.
"Great, could you wait a moment before going after each other's throat?", sighed Merlin. "Or maybe i should let you just go on with it and let you fight and then kill the winner?" He looked at both black haired beauty and blond, muscular, blue eyed warrior.
"Merlin", they both started, but he ignored them turning his attention to full, empty inside armor, standing before him. Armor, having his arms on unsheathed sword, that looked like a very effective weapon for killing.
"Please, if you could repeat and this time say all of the riddle, not only the first sentence", asked Merlin, feeling the shivers when the empty armor looked at him, which shouldn't be possible. He was getting an impression, the black armor smiled at him, changing it helm's look a little.
"If you could kill any of your companions, who would you choose? The one with the most votes will die by my hand. Everyone who will not participate, will be slain either. If the vote won't be concluded by the time the sand run out of the hourglass, all of your lives will be forfeit", an empty voice came from the empty, black armor.
"Merlin, she almost destroyed Camelot, she attacked the Camelot twice and killed innocent people", stressed Arthur, putting his hand on Merlin's shoulder.
"Merlin, don't listen to him, he used the warlock to kill his own father to be a king and then he used it as a pretext to hunt and kill anyone who had magic", cried Morgana, touching his shoulder with her delicate, feminine fingers.
"Merlin, we are friends", urged Arthur, looking into his blue eyes.
Morgana stepped before Merlin, her fragile fingers embraced the back of his head, plunging into his black hair.
"Merlin, we are lovers", she kissed him. Slowly. Repeatedly.
"Wha...", Arthur's eyes widened. He shook his head with disbelief and turned to black armor standing before them. "I-i want to change my pick", he smiled with his eyes in crazy mode.
"Stop it both! Now!", shouted black haired man, shoving off the black haired beauty. He felt something real in her kiss. Some deep passion and emotions. But he also felt they never kissed before. He didn't know why, but he wasn't recognizing the kiss and even if it was passionate, he could tell somehow neither he or she was the most experienced kissers in the world.
On the other hand, he was able to find something real in his feeling to his other companion, the blond eyed warrior king. He could feel, that there was some real deep feelings and a lot of hardships they probably endured together. For some reason he wanted to take care of him.
Nevertheless, he stepped back from the armor, that he could swore was watching him closely.
"I am going to think about this now", he said looking between the two of them. "You are invited to help me, but if will be pestering me who to choose, then stand out of my way, Understood?", he looked each one of them into his/her eyes, forcing them to politely nod, before he moved to one of the corners and sit there, mumbling to himself, glancing at the half empty hourglass, having only a few minutes left.
"You are not lovers", Arthur turned to Morgana, who crossed her arms on her chest, looking at the sitting Merlin, anxious.
"No, we are not, he never touched your little sister", she spat without favouring him with even the smallest glance of her cold, icy blue eyes.
"That kiss had passion", stated Arthur, still looking at his sister.
"Exactly, passion", she glanced at him, her eyes stone cold.
"So how long?"
"How long what?", said Morgana in a cold voice. She was feeling furious being questioned by Arthur. She felt the emotions, while she was kissing Merlin and she didn't like that one bit. She also knew, that if he didn't push her, she would kiss him far longer, then she did.
"You had feeling for him?", asked Arthur, composed. It was something new to him. He knew that Merlin was liking Morgana. It was obvious. His hidden glances, the way he was taking care for her. But she was always playing with men. She never acted seriously when it came to them. Later, she started using them. Sacrificing them in her game like pawns.
"The feeling for him?", she smirked furiously, "ah yes, i've had the feeling for him the moment he poisoned me, just before Morgause saved me", Arthur looked at her with disbelief in his eyes. "I had a lot of feelings. Hate. The feeling of being betrayed by someone who you trust. The disappointment. The pain. I will remember it forever. My throat burning, like someone shoved a flames through it, putting it on fire. My body twisting. And him, trying to...", she stopped, remembering his hands holding her, caressing her, swaying her body while embracing her like she was a little child, who was being put to sleep. She stopped shouting and sit on the floor embracing her legs with her fragile arms, crying. Her body started to tremble and her breathing got louder, when she tried to hide her emotions.
Arthur gulped and glanced at Merlin, who was looking at them with his deep blue, eyes, giving them a cryptic look. He trembled inside. He never knew what Merlin did. His brain was working hastily, trying to understand. He thought Morgana was kidnapped that day. Turned by Morgause. But that was the moment when everyone else stopped being sleepy. He palmed himself. He never thought of that. Never made a connection between Morgana's disappearance and the ending of the sleepiness. Or rather Morgana's poisoning. He glanced at Merlin one more time, feeling confused. If he had heard about this on any other occasion, he would probably made his decision very quickly. But after following Merlin for the last few hours, who was literally on a winning streak, solving one problem after another he wasn't so sure about anything. The problem was, Merlin lost his memories.
Arthur trembled when the thought that his manservant and a friend could be simply feigning memory lost hit him. He breathed hard, feeling sick. Yet, he felt that he needed to just trust Merlin. To trust in what he will do in this situation. The calmness came over his body and he relaxed. He saw Merlin coming to them and kneeling next to Morgana, trying to embrace her.
She pushed him away, standing up and freezing the moment she realized what have just happened. She smirked, wiping her eyes.
"Make your choice", her voice trembled, when she lifted her chin, trying to act with the dignity, before he would choose her to die.
"Merlin, we don't have much more time", Arthur pointed to the hourglass. The sand almost run out and the last grains started to fall down.
"I know", Merlin walked to the black armor, stopping in front of it. He smiled sadly with a feeling of gilt towards Morgana, who was standing to his left, with her hands , trembling, trying to act with dignity in her last moments.
"I'm ready to give you an answer", Merlin turned to the black armor, that was waiting for him, looking at him, waiting. The empty gauntlet's gripped firmly the double edged sword and lifted it in anticipation.