Disclaimer: I do not own The Lord Of The Rings or any of it's characters or places, the events that take place are purely fictional and are not to be confused with the actual Lord Of The Rings timeline.

From a high balcony Grima watched as the massive army turned to leave, he caught himself licking his lips and stopped before he reached the part that was split open. It was a nervous habit he had aquired within the last four years but his eyes hadn't left the army, they moved with more efficiency than he could have ever believed from an army of Orcs and other nastier creatures. Despite the impressive machinery and the fact that he alone had made this strategic move possible the army was only half of what was on Grima's mind. Somewhere deep down he was feeling a very potent and unsettling guilt but it would have to wait until the situation was better figured out. Saruman had hardley spoken to him since his arrival, that wasn't good. He was used to the wizard ignoring him but that was in less important situations like when he just arrived for a few hours here and there to brew up a new potion that he may have use of. Those few times Saruman generally only asked what he was doing and after Grima had answered he'd just make a demeaning comment about lack of ability and slothfulness then leave him be, but this was different. Now everything he had been working for was drawing to an end and he didn't know of anything he could do now that he was discovered to be Sarumans and the thought of uselessness was almost enough to make his chest tighten and stop him from breathing like many times before. Grima could smell ash, fire and brimstone as the white cloak flashed beside his face for an instant then the wizard strode inside. Being brought back to the present and out of his scattered thoughts he turned on his heel and followed. Grima thought at some point he had heard Saruman say "Leave None alive" among other things he would think of later but now he needed to ask about that one part. They were quiet as they walked through the dark stone halls and down the only flight of stairs, he was still shivering. All Grima could hear now was a pounding sound from the marching outside that wasn't yet growing any more distant and his heartbeat, which had not yet slowed from the night before.

"Your candle is no longer lit, you may lower your hand" Saruman said over his shoulder with a tone of undisguised anger and disgust. He had always spoken down to him but at least he was speaking to him.

"My Lord" Grima began, to his suprise the voice he heard was shakier than his own and sounded so pathetic it suprised and scared him, what wouldn't suprise him was if this turned out to be permanent. Going silent after realising he hadn't thought of a proper way to phrase his question, Grima closed his eyes in quick, disordered thought. He couldn't seem to think straight after the events of last night either. Awareness of licking his lips again didn't happen until he felt the sting, it seemed like a warning and knowing Saruman would grow impatient shortly Grima tried to prompt him to say something instead.

"I was curious about the agreement we have concerning Eowyn". He was better at speaking when he had something to work off anyway.

"What of it?"

Not the response he was expecting but Grima couldn't change it so he worked with what little he was givin as they continued climbing the spiralling staircase.

"What I mean is that you assured me that she wouldn't be hurt" Grima said looking up from the candle that he couldn't seem to find a ledge for and watched Sarumans back as they passed another floor.

"I believe that what I said Worm, was that if your performance and infromation proved useful she wouldn't be unessecarily harmed" Saruman answered impatiently. Grima also couldn't help noticing that certain name used again, it was a bad sign because usually Saruman didn't call him by any name or title. Surely the almost half a decade of work had to amount to something, Grima wanted to believe that the other wizard was lying but that hope was dimishing by the minute. It would be foolish to speak again but Grima was willing to push his luck if there was a chance it could benefit Eowyn.

"The only reason that I ever agreed to help was that you promised she would not be hurt if I did". Grima whispered, it was the best he could come up with in his condition and wasn't sure if he wished for Saruman to hear or not.

"There was more reason than that, don't lie Worm, you may not want to see it within yourself but you are pathetic, afraid and cowardly. Don't use that woman as an excuse for the disgusting weaknesses within yourself". His words were cold like knives stabbing deep into his chest and Grima felt a sort of despair and hopelessnes and mostly regretted opening his mouth. Compared to some horrifying life experiences he should have been able to shake this off but Sarumans voice always had a brutal precision to it. Worst was that people would always succumb to it's suggestions and demands, Grima especially couldn't resist because by this point in life everything appeared threatning and he was afraid. What frightened him could easily be debated but if he were to admit the truth he would say a bit of everything. The spiralling staircase came to an end on the ground floor and Saruman walked into a large open room with an arch concept ceiling. The throne room was what Grima had always called it. There were only three things of great importence in this room, not including Saruman. The palantir, the stand on which it remained and Sarumans throne, the room was also filled with disturbing orbs of light that looked as though someone threw a heap of mud at them and as a result the mud was trapped around the light and doomed to float with it until it someday sparked out. The whole atmosphere of the black stone room was suffocating and made one think of being trapped, or maybe it only seemed that way to Grima. As Saruman was about to place his hands on or near the palantir, whatever he did Grima didn't know, he moved. Running back up an entire level so that the ground floor was out of his sight, Grima sighed in relief, he had once again avoided witnessing it being activated. Once he had wondered about it and dared to touch it, he paid in more than one way for that. Now not even his curious nature could bring him to even glance at it.

Sitting on the darkened staircase Grima's eyes caught sight of his hand, his knuckles were white with strain and trembling terribly around the candles stand. He willed himslef to stop but it wouldn't happen and it took a suprisingly great effort to pull his fingers from the now warm metal. Once the candle was free from his fingers he could make out blood trailing from his palm and fingers. Quickly finding out that it hurt to flex them Grima decided to just make a fist and leave it until an oporutne moment came to clean and wrap his fingers. Leaning against the freezing wall Grima decided he could take this short time to close his eyes and calm down before Saruman returned from that cursed communication device to collect him. Immediatley after closing his eyes Grima felt his chest tighten and his breathing halted. Iron fingers crushed his shoulder but he couldn't cry out, it was as it was before and only a whimper escaped.

A sharp and sudden pain flashed in the back of his head and the staircase came into veiw as he was tilting forward. Grima just barely caught himself from falling on his face and instead landed on his hands and knees. Before he could rise Saruman walked ahead of him. That explained the events of the nightmare, Saruman must have struck him after an attempt at shaking him awake had failed. How long would he suffer from this dreaming condition he wondered for a moment before his pondering was cut short by stern commands.

"Rise Worm, you have much to do to atone for your failure in Rohan".

Saruman walked ahead but paused when Grima pulled himself up to his knees and was gripping his left wrist. It hurt to move it even a little, a perfect end to a perfect day, his right palm and fingers were sliced and his left wrist twisted. Grima had just thought this over when he looked up at the sound of Saruman's chuckling. The staircase was dark but not dark enough to conceal the wizards grin.

"You miss her so much already? it's depressing really, that you think so much of her and not at all of what you could have achieved if you placed your concentration in the more useful areas. Instead of being punished you could have achieved a reward". Saruman's tone had started out mocking, went to genuinly sympathetic, then cold and cruel.

Grima was wondering what had brought about this statement when he tasted the salt in his mouth and felt another sting on his split lip. Raising his right hand to brush under his eye he realised there were tears, he watched as Saruman continued down the stairs with a snort of dissaproval. Grima was sure by this point that Saruman was a complete narcissist and thought that the love of anything other than ones self to be foolsih. Sadly sometimes Grima agreed with him, even if only in his weakest moments or after another look of contempt from Eowyn. It was suprising however that Saruman had mistook them for tears of despair and not nightmare enduced, the evidence was clear as day. That was fine, as long as he wasn't suspicious then Grima wouldn't have to tell him how he had betrayed him just last night on the plains of Rohan. It wasn't a fatal betrayal but Saruman would still likely be enraged to discover all the aparently insignificant secrets he had told last night and enraged tenfold if he had discovered to whom he had told. All those little and almost unimportant secrets could have helped Saruman a great deal but instead just proved to be another ace up his sleeve that Grima had used at an inconveniant time for his own sake.

Authors Note: Okay, so my first Lord Of The Rings Fanfic (seems that i'm doing a lot of firsts lately) this one however should be different in the case that i'm going to try to add chapters onto it *holds for gasps* yes it's at least worth a shot and surely such an underrated character as Grima deserves some attention. Oh by the way, I am completely slugging my way through the books (only on page 200!) so if I screw up anything feel free to point it out, I'm running on character bios, fansites and "Unfinished Tales". All in all thankyou very much for reading, I hope it was time well wasted and I hope this gets better.

Sincerely, Adam