He had spoken his words quietly in that deceiving, seductive, tone I had come to recognize all too well. He stroked my cheek, and something broke inside me. I was being fondled by this demon that had caused so much misery, and I could stand it no longer. "Your words are poison!" I spat, then I turned, and stormed from the room, pushing open the doors and rushing out onto the battlements. I looked across to the mountains in the distance, and I saw the houses with their intricately thatched roofs. I stared down to the people below, going about their duties in a dogged, yet determined manner. I hated him. That monster with his slithering hands and conniving tongue... Wormtongue... Snake lips! He deserved... he deserved a sword through his evil belly! I stood there. Crying. The tears were streaking down my face. Blurring my vision. Overwhelming me. The wind was whipping my hair across my face. Feeling the icy breeze lash my skirts around my legs, I felt hopeless. Theodred was dead. My mother and father were dead, and Eomer had been banished by my uncle, the man who had swung me into the air as a small child, the warrior whom I had once so loved, trusted, and admired and had been turned into an aged and decrepit stranger by this instrument of a greater evil than I could ever imagine... The enemy was closing in, choking the life out of everything I loved, and I was alone. I felt completely useless. Like a caged bird. My hands were clenched so tight, I could feel my nails digging into my flesh. I felt as if someone were wrenching the very heart from my chest.
A banner ripped and the wind tore it away, blowing it to the heather far below, and I felt my heart go with it.