First of all, sorry for taking so long to update! I was a bit stuck as to what to do or how much to put in this chapter. Even as I wrote this part, I had no idea what would happen. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think and who or what Arthur should face next!

As Arthur entered, he looked around the cold and gray room. The new King found himself in a massive dining hall, as large and spacious as the one back at his castle. The space was decked for a massive party – candelabras (which surely had been a gleaming gold in their glory) sat on the carved tables along with goblets, bowls of fruit, (which had shivered long ago), silverware, and gold-rimmed plates. Underneath it all was moth-eaten table runners in a dirty plum cover. The skeletons of men and women sat at the table. Their skulls were off to one side, as if asleep. And everything, everything, was coated in thick layers of dust and cobwebs.

From the opposite end of the room, came a woman. A twisted smile stretched across her face. "Hello, Arthur," she purred in a gentle voice. "No one is here to protect you now, is there?"

"Lady Helen," asked the King. His lip curled up and his eyebrow arched in a huh? expression. "Is that you?"

The woman laughed as she rested her hands on her canary-yellow dress. "If you wish me to be that, yes," she replied. After taking a deep breath, the woman spread her arms and began to sing. It started off in a soft, quiet tone, and Arthur didn't quite understand the words. However, her voice slowly grew louder and clearer,

"Your life waxes and wanes

Like the glory of the sunlit waves.

There are highs and lows

That curve around the mountains and bluffs of the heart.

Oh low, woe is me

What did I do to deserve thee?

Oh low, woe is me

What did I do to deserve thee?

Oh low, woe is me

Oh low, woe is me

What did I do to deserve thee?

Oh low, woe is me

What did I do to deserve thee?

Oh low, woe is me."

Arthur found that he was terribly tired. He blinked, hard and long as he stumbled through the room towards her. To keep himself upright, he rested a hand upon the table. And then he remembered. It was just like the first time he saved him – when his father had made Merlin his servant. "Oh, no you don't!" he shouted with much force.

"Your life is great,

But you can fall so suddenly.

There is good and bad

Within the soul.

How to resist, when doth it insists?

O! is there the strength

to resist, when doth it insists?

How to resists? It insists."

How to resist, when doth it insists?

O! is there the strength

to resist, when doth it insists?

How to resists? It insists."

Arthur was practically asleep on his feet. His reached up and slapped himself. "Ow…Must stay awake, for Merlin's sake," whispered Arthur as he pressed his lips together and gritted his teeth. He drew his sword as he looked around the filthy dining hall. The new King had to figure out how to stop her before she started singing her third set of verse and chorus.

"But, oh…oh how it all can change," sang the faux lady Helen as she came even nearer to Arthur. She was standing right under the chandelier.

A smirk spread over Arthur's face. "Perfect," whispered the blonde-haired man. He stared at the lighting fixture and followed its tether to the wall. Yawning and fighting sleep, he hurried to where the rope ended. He sliced through the chord and watched, with a smug expression on his face, as it fell on the singer and flattened her.

Lady Helen raised herself with her arms. She stared directly into Arthur's eyes. Coldness and hatred towards the King gleamed within her dark eyes. "You stopped me, but you won't get him. You're going to be too late and there's nothing you can do about it. You made a mistake and now you must live with it, for all eternity," growled the woman as her arms gave way and she plopped onto the ground.

Arthur stared at the still form of the Lady Helen (or at least, the being that looked like her). His lips were turned down into a frown. "You want to bet? I might have made a mistake, but I am going to fix it. I might have disserted him now, but I have come for him. I am going to bring him home – alive. I will not let anything else happen to him," promised Arthur with a nod. "I can't."

Taking a deep breath, he hurried through the dining hall. Now that the singer was no longer alive and singing her charismatic song, Arthur found he was awake and could actually run instead of trudging and stumbling along haphazardly. The King paused at the door and looked back at where the chandelier had fallen. The woman was no longer there. It was as if she'd never existed. "What the…" he whispered. Shaking his head, Arthur planted a hand on the rusty doorknob. He did not want to think about where the woman had gone or what had happened. Had she even been alive or had that been just sort of wayward spirit? He would never know and frankly, that was just fine with that. Thinking about it even gave him a headache. There was only so much magic and sorcery he could take all at once. Besides, Arthur needed to focus on the task at hand – saving Merlin, getting him out of here, and back to Camelot, where he would apologize for being the clotpole the warlock often claimed he was – and so he did not want to use his precious energy or brain cells on wondering if the singer, Lady Helen was alive or not.

Facing the door, he turned the knob, which fell off in his hand. Looking around sheepishly, Arthur dropped it on the ground. He hoped the spirits of these ruins wouldn't notice. Hearing a tortured scream and a manic laugh, the King hurried onwards. Don't worry, Merlin, I'm coming, thought Arthur. Just hold on. Please, hold on.