Ward of the White Worm

.... by December 8th, it was obvious that Duke Lorn had no intention of honoring the truce set out by Archbishop Syndow and Lady Maywurth. It is believed that Prince Wiliam had been executed by November 23rd, but it was only on December 8th that confirmation had been given by a messenger of Lorn bearing the prince's head to his mother. Earl Brychen Graef, the sixth earl of Brynebourne, was ordered to muster 2000 (although the sources of Sarah the Elder say the number was supposed to be 4000) men and move to fortify the Hoarlands where Duke Lorn was suspected to be mustering his own forces.

Earl Brychen was, according to contemporary sources, a tall Worm who preferred the violent wither-steeds and therefore was considered an excellent force of fear to hold back the Duke's forces temporarily. Earl Brychen's intelligence is not often remarked in sources, but his decision to disobey royal orders to take his soldiers to the Linder River allowed him to stop the movement of Lord Yewarm who had come to reinforce his brother-in-law's army and bolster his claim to the throne.

In the Battle of Linder River, Sarah the Elder gave us the number of 18000 dead either through direct battle or through falling into the Linder's freezing waters. This number must be questioned, due to John of Stowell claiming the total number of men on both sides was only 13400 in his Canticle of The Queen Mercy. This number as well may not be satisfactory, for Duke Lorn's advisor Mauris Crowe's surviving letters to his wife spoke of Lord Yewarm losing 7800 men in the battle, yet Crowe's own letters are often riddled with inaccuracies due to his admitted consumption of void syrup.

What is certain is that Lord Yewarm had never made it to reinforce Duke Lorn. Brychen's rot had proved virulent, infecting the survivors of the army including Yewarm himself. Yewarm was taken to either Lowshire or Saint Joanna's. Here there is little evidence for what occurred to Yewarm besides a confirmation of a last admission of sin. His name is later listed on records of traitors who had their heads placed upon the Queen's Gate but this list appears to have been written twenty years after the revolt, for it mentions King Henry at the throne, rather than his mother.

By March of the next year, the tides were briefly back in the favor of Duke Lorn. The Queen's brother Duke Amster had died, an appearance of the Black-Toothed Cat had been reported at Blisshead which terrified royalist supporters, and the Earl of Brynebourne had returned to the Brynemoor to welcome the birth of his only child....