Gwaine was thoroughly conscious of the time he had been spending. You see, in each room there was a small sand timer in the wall- representative of the larger one Merlin was trapped in. Merlin- that was the one thought consuming his mind. That, and Eernseth- he couldn't believe the madness of the guy. Sure, Gwaine had done things he wasn't proud of, but he would never put people through an ordeal like this. He was surprised enough at how Merlin was dealing with this- much more bravely than he' expected, especially after everyone's nerves had been shattered by the dragon. That's why he was here- he wanted to help his best friend.

Speaking of which, he had now spent 25 minutes wandering around what he assumed was the castle gardens. Although it was hard to tell- every damn bush looked the same. Hadn't he seen that statue before? He had to pull himself together. Running his hand through his hair and swishing it out of his face, he strode forward with meaningful steps- if he was in the garden then he may as well look out for that black flower that his highness was supposedly finding. He could only hope that the princess hadn't already got there. He was painfully aware of the time still ticking; there were no rooms with hourglasses in the gardens, but apparently Eernseth had found seeds for a hourglass plant somewhere.

Arthur was trying to regain his breath. That dog fight had lasted longer than he realised; in fact, glancing up at the sand timer, he guessed that 10 minutes had gone by since he came through. That meant it was about half past- God, he was running out of time, and he hadn't even found one thing yet. Gathering himself, the young king looked around for his sword, absentmindedly placing it back in its sheath before he remembered he should probably wipe it first. He drew his sword, and … What? Glancing down he saw glistening silver- silver liquid? THE BLOOD! Arthur laughed in glee- he had found one of the three, and he had almost let it slip away. Kneeling down beside the dog's body, he took a vial from his pocket and collected as much blood as he could from the stab wound. It was strange seeing such a glistening, pure colour come from something so evil. With his vial now filled, Arthur came from the room in higher spirits. Half of the time was gone, but he had one vital ingredient.

30 minutes gone

He had jumped, he had leaped, he had reached, but there was just no getting to that bloody trap door… There must be another secret. He circled the trapdoor from below. If this was some twisted game, there had to be some kind of trick to getting access to it. He took another step, and suddenly his perspective twisted. Leon had been turning and pacing for so long that he had ended up at the right angle that allowed him to see the trapdoor in a different perspective- an optical illusion. The trap door looked as though it was now connected to stairs that had been built from the wall, each little alcove from this angle made to look like a jutting step so with nothing to lose he tried one of the vertical stairs finding it very strange when each of his hairs stood on end- he was literally defying gravity how on earth could he stand on a side of the wall? He was sure that magic was involved in this somehow. So with the blood rushing to his head Leon braced himself to hike further up reaching the trapdoor.

Hissing was clear to hear as Leon's vision adjusted to the darkness. He was completely unaware of the space he was in- he couldn't see a thing. Feeling for the wall around him, he was able to calculate that the room was a small box shape; it seemed hardly big enough for any extravagant traps, so Leon boldly took a few more steps forward. The hissing that he had dismissed at first had now returned, and it didn't sound like a friendly hiss. Preparing his sword for combat, Leon took another step forward before he felt the hiss breathe right onto his face.

"Tick, tock, tick, tock" Eernseth sung "Tick, tock, the sand will flock and Merlin's life drains with the clock" This wasn't the first time Eernseth had started to rhyme- in fact he seemed rather good at it. Merlin had listened to changes in verse after verse for the past half hour. He was trying to forget about the sand that was now steadily rising to his chest- his lower half was completely covered and if he wanted to move it required a lot of effort. In fact, his form was almost frozen. Yet he hadn't lost any faith in his friends they would make it even if they left it up till the last second. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to focus on Camelot and what he would tell Gaius when he got back.

40 minutes gone

For some reason it was getting darker and darker as Gwaine travelled further into the overgrown gardens. The shrubbery seemed to loom down on him, making him feel irritatingly small. He had started by wandering around the outside of the gardens, but now he was approaching the heart of the gardens. It seemed that with every step he took, more light seemed to be lost from the world. It had taken him a while, but he could sense that he was on the right track. There was no point going back now when he could be on to something. Turning a corner, the darkness came closer like a torch was being blown out every time he took another step. After a while, he spotted an entrance in the bushes up ahead, so Gwaine picked up the pace, every fibre of his being tensing, darkness falling closer and closer… becoming ever enclosing, swallowing him whole, leaving no room for mercy when he saw it…

There- right in the middle of the gardens, was a rose. It loomed taller than most in height, with a dark green stem that bent and twisted into loops and bled with cruel-looking thorns. This pattered stem opened up to reveal a blossoming flower that had petals as dark as night.

The darkness was hypnotising. It didn't make sense. How could something be so dark, but look as though it was the only source of light? He took slow steps forward. His outstretched arm stroked the petals, feeling nothing.

He was so encased in the darkness that he didn't see the contorting roots grow out from the ground in a large bud shape with a circular opening at the top, and the vine lengthening its stem as though it was a fist ready to snatch the unaware knight.

45 minutes gone

Frustrated- that was Leon. Ever since stepping into the dark room, the hissing hadn't left his ears. He had chased and swiped at what he thought was the cause of the hissing, only to find nothing there. Still not able to see much, he tried to stumble his way back to the door. Perhaps if he could prop it open then there would be some light. As his hand pushed the door open, he was meet with a rather excellent view of the floor. Wait- that would mean… he was now back in the ceiling. Getting down was not going to be easy. Wary of the possibly painful drop below him, Leon slid the door open before getting a better look at the room; he couldn't see too far in front of him, but he had managed to spot a small box pushed against the wall. Reaching down, he saw the box had another old-looking message on it.

"Light me if you want to kill me."

Confused at the message, Leon pushed open the box to find 3 small matches. 3 matches that were his key to figuring this room out.

Striking the first one against the side of the box, the room was instantly aglow, and he could see a shadow scuffle around into the end corner. He was about to shine the light up to the creature before the match burnt out. This was going to be tougher than he thought.

Striking the second match, Leon tried to wave this match around, taking as much of the space in as he could in the seconds he had before the match again burnt out- not learning much and sensing that the room now only contained him and this creature. He started pondering over how to use the final match, when the written message reappeared in his head "Light me if you want to kill me." That was it! Confidently striking this time, he threw the burning flame right into the end corner, hearing a ferocious scream before the whole room was washed with a bright light. Risking opening his eyes again, Leon saw that the room was nothing special- a square like he had assumed, and a lot smaller than it seemed swathed in darkness. Circling round, his eyes fell upon the creature his match had landed on. A creature that he could now see had scales! It was weird to see this invisible creature now as plain as day. It was a lot smaller then Leon had thought, but he knew what he had to gather. Making sure it was truly dead, Leon took to his dagger, carefully cutting four scales from the monster's dragon-like back. Breathing a sigh of relief to have his ordered ingredient, Leon scampered back over to the trap door. He opened it carefully so as not to fall out, but finding that when he looked outside the door was back on the ground floor. Magic, it had to be.

50 minutes gone