Disclaimer: Valdemar and concepts belong to Mercedes Lackey; this story and original characters belong to their author.
Notes: As for the main characters! Kippen Wright and his Companion, Dysis; Rachel Hall and her Companion, Felicity; Thorn Tillman and his Companion, Sham, the Companion Senyo; the Companion Turii and Dwina Coldwater.
Kip and Dy are old characters of mine from an RP, whom I'm rather fond of and decided to revive. The rest are new characters created for this fic. :)
Other Notes: YES. YES, I WENT THERE.
FALLOUT
Prologue
By Senashenta
The problem was a simple one: the heartstone beneath Haven's streets just wasn't producing enough magical energy. Over the years since its construction the magic had been drained, slowly, through various means. The Companions in particular were being affected by the lack of power—it made them weaker, slower, more mortal.
Luckily—or perhaps unluckily—the solution was just as simple: create a new heartstone to supplement the current one.
And so Herald-Mage Rehn Walker found himself spending inordinate amounts of time hanging out in a series of large, damp caverns underneath the outskirts of Haven along with a local Mage named Dwina while his Companion, Turii, lounged around Companion's Field and made the occasional teasing comment about his general discomfort.
:Aw, poor baby, stuck hanging out with an attractive, unattached woman all day every day.:
:Rii, you know that's not what my mind's on right now.:
:Then stop staring at her chest every time she looks away.:
Rehn sputtered at that, barely managing to choke the sound down in time. Across the cave, Dwina didn't seem to notice—just continued waving her hands in the air as she worked with the local key-lines, drawing and connecting them together.
:I do not stare at her chest!: Rehn hissed in reply to Turii's jab.
The mare simply chuckled, the feeling of apples and sunshine flooding down the bond between them. :No? Because she looks at your rear every time you turn around.:
:How would you know, you're not even here!:
:I just do.: A smug tone. :Companions are magic, after all.:
Rehn snorted, rolling his eyes even as Turii faded into the back of his mind again and he turned back to Dwina. In reality, his Companion was right. He was most definitely attracted to Dwina. She was thin and pretty with light hair and dark eyes. They had been working together for months now, and Rehn found himself drawn to her more strongly as he learned more about her.
She wasn't just beautiful, she was also a good person, cheerful and friendly. She worked hard at anything she did, up to and including putting her all into forming the new heartstone.
"Turii teasing you again?"
"As usual." A burdened sigh and Rehn waved a hand dismissively, even as he was walking over to stand next to Dwina.
In front of them was a large boulder, taller than a person and probably weighing at least a ton. Natural heartstones were interspersed with crystals as they formed, but this one was only granite thus far. Part of what Rehn and Dwina had to do was form the crystal lacing themselves—a step that they were very close to achieving. But it would be tricky, as it had to happen at the same time as they pulled the surrounding keylines into position as well.
Their plan was for Dwina to control the keylines while Rehn created the crystals. It would be a huge strain on both of them, but they had worked out the plan weeks ago and both of them were certain they could manage it.
There was a long silence from Dwina then as her hands continued to weave in the air in front of her, reaching to grasp invisible strings and tug them toward herself—and then she dropped them to her sides, stretched her neck a little, and glanced back toward Rehn.
"I think I'm about as ready as I'll ever be." The Mage lifted her brows in a questioning motion. "How about you?"
Rehn considered for a moment, frowning in thought. Was he ready? He thought so. Just as Dwina had stretched her neck out, Rehn flexed his magical "muscles", straining against his own boundaries and dipping into Turii's mind slightly where there was an extra reserve of power set aside for him, as always. Turii's consciousness stirred curiously, then settled again once the Companion figured out what he was doing.
All in all, Rehn felt strong and confident in his abilities.
"Yeah." He replied finally. "Let's do this."
"Great!"
It was somehow both adorable and worrying how excited Dwina was about the project. Rehn didn't bother to say as much, though. Instead he just took his place beside her and took a deep breath before smiling sideways at the Mage standing next to him.
Lifting both hands palm-out, he closed his eyes, reaching out and feeling along the natural energy of the cave and the soon-to-be heartstone. Beside him, Dwina's hands began moving again, dancing in the air in front of her and grasping at the keylines, drawing them together and melding them into a new network.
Rehn took charge of forging the crystals within the granite, pulling the raw materials out and meshing them into the cracks and crevices of the stone in front of him. As he finished each crystal, Dwina tied the keylines to it before moving on to the next one.
But as much as things started off well, a candlemark into the work, Rehn found himself straining to draw in enough magical energy to continue working the crystals as he was—and his mind slipped slightly, sending a small shockwave outward.
"Rehn...?"
There was concern in Dwina's voice, but Rehn shook his head, brushing the Mage off a little even as he was reaching out toward Turii and that small vat of excess power that she always had for him. A curious feeling flooded down the bond between them—and then the mare seemed to understand, simply releasing the energy to allow him to tap it freely.
It didn't worry either of them that it was a different kind of magic than what he was working with in the caverns. And it certainly didn't occur to them that those two kinds of magic might not be completely compatible, either.
Something exploded.
One moment everything was fine and the next everything was falling apart around them. The magic Rehn was working with snapped on contact with what Turii shared with him, lashing back at him sharply and throwing him across the cave. Dwina barely had time to utter a startled yelp before she was throwing her arms up defensively—and the new heartstone shattered, smashing into a million pieces and flying outward in all directions.
Across the cavern, Rehn had landed hard against the wall. Now he found himself sprawled on the ground, broken and bleeding and barely able to form coherent thought at all.
:REHN!:
Turii's Voice was panicked, but he couldn't even respond through the magical storm that was quickly whipping up violently around them, shoving Dwina backward and forcing the air from both of their lungs.
Dwina…
Huffing painfully, Rehn forced himself up onto his elbows, looking toward Dwina and squinting against the unnatural wind—the woman was trying desperately to gain control of the wild magic, but it was clear what she was doing wasn't working.
At this rate, what would happen to them? What would happen to Haven and the unsuspecting people in the streets above them?
Rehn grit his teeth and reached one hand toward the broken heartstone, forcing down the pain and grasping the rough edges of the lashing magic. Determined, he grabbed at it and yanked it toward himself—it collided with him harshly, a rough, sharp feeling in his chest, down to the very core of his being.
In the back of his mind, Turii was screaming. Across the cave, Dwina was, too.
The magic storm tore at him, ripping him apart inside, heart, soul, body and everything he was. It picked him up and threw him against the cavern wall again, smashing his bones and pinning him there, a force of nature bent on destroying him in every way possible.
By the time it died down, smothered within himself, there was little left of him beside a torn, tattered shell.
"Rehn…" Dwina forced herself up off the ground, voice rasping slightly. "Rehn!"
Scrambling over, she dropped down beside where Rehn was sprawled. Pushing at his shoulder, she flipped him over—ignored the grinding, crunching sound of broken bones—and her hands flew up to search for a pulse. When she couldn't immediately find one, she leaned down to listen to his chest.
There was nothing. No breath, no heartbeat.
Rehn was dead.
Dwina sobbed, her breath rough in her chest, and shook her head—
Rehn's eyes blinked open.
But the familiar blue was absent. Blank, faded white stared up at her instead. A rattling gurgle sounded from the back of his throat—one hand lifted, shaky, reaching for her—and Dwina froze.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
Rehn was still reaching for her—and finally she jerked back, falling out of the way of his raking grasp, even as he was shoving up into a sitting position, bones grinding again, though he clearly didn't feel it—or at least didn't notice. Dwina scrambled back and out of his reach and hauled herself to her feet—tripped over some loose rocks from the shattered heartstone—and began backing her way toward the cave entrance.
"Rehn…"
No answer, beyond a gaping maw and reaching hands.
Rehn Walker really was dead.
Dwina ran.
