Buck

"Of course, I am willing to answer your questions," Autumn said.

"Great," Buck said. "So. Yes. I have a question."

The strange little girl tilted her head, patiently waiting.

"Where in the HELL are we?" he asked.

"Underhill," Autumn replied as though that told him a single damn thing.

"Under what now?" he asked.

"Well, one term for this place is the Realm Under the Hill," Autumn explained, "because in the Dark Ages people believed the Fair Folk lived underground, in cairns and barrows. In truth, that's simply where they hid the Gates which led to their Enclaves in the unformed realm. But still, the name stuck."

"And that is surely a fascinating history lesson," Buck said, "but it doesn't explain anything about why me and my recruits are in the middle of this foggy hellhole with no way to contact our base and no idea how we got here or how to get back."

Autumn nodded. "That might be harder to explain."

"And why is that?" Buck asked.

"Because I am not sure how you came to be here," Autumn admitted. "This place? This little Enclave? It should not exist. I would have said with fair certainty that it is impossible. No mage set the boundaries, there is no Rift for you to fall through and you came through no Gate."

"You're saying words," Buck said, "and they sound like they should make sense but they just don't."

Autumn laughed a little. "I apologize. I'm just not sure how to even begin. At bare basics, I suppose."

Buck nodded. “Basics sounds good, sure.”

“What do you know of magic?” Autumn asked.

Buck considered his answer for a moment and decided to go with brutal honesty.

“Well, Princess, before you strolled in here I knew for a fact that magic doesn’t exist.”

“Oh.” Autumn frowned. She shook her little, magic rock and looked up at him. “I think my spell is not working exactly right. I am not royalty, my title is Champion.”

“No, I was just… never mind,” Buck waved off her confusion. “What I meant is, as far as I know, magic is some clown pulling a rabbit out of a hat at some kid’s birthday party.”

“Rabbit out of a hat?” Autumn whispered, and turned to Tanaka, who shrugged. Buck wasn’t sure what part of the reference she didn’t get.

Buck watched the girl process his answer. Her gentle smile fell away to a concerned frown, and she worried at her lip for a moment.

“You know nothing at all about magic?” Autumn asked finally.

“Not a single damn thing,” Buck confirmed.

“Oh. Oh, well I…” Autumn trailed off, obviously at a momentary loss. She rallied quickly, though. “I can explain, still. I must simply explain everything. Perhaps you will call your recruits here so that I must only do this one time? There is much to tell.”

Buck wasn’t sure he wanted to pull the recruits off of sentry duty, but it was a reasonable request. If they stayed in the drill courtyard they could see over half of the border between their base and the Mist anyway. So he agreed and called in the rest of the recruits and ordered them to fall in. They arranged themselves into five neat rows in front of him.

“Recruits, this here young lady is Autumn. Her rank and title is Champion. You will treat her with the same respect and deference you would any ranking officer. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Sergeant,” they chorused.

“The Champion is going to explain what she knows about our situation and how we can rectify it. I expect you to give her your full and undivided attention, and hold any questions until she is done speaking. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Sergeant,” was again the reply.

Buck allowed himself the faintest smile. His recruits looked good, even in this insane situation and they hadn’t let themselves dissolve into panic or confusion.

Buck nodded at Autumn to start. She returned the nod, took a deep breath, and spoke.

“As your teacher said, I am the Champion, Autumn. I specialize in finding those who have wandered Underhill and returning them to their proper Realms.” Autumn paused. “Underhill is where you currently stand. It is.” She paused. “Think of, perhaps, a glass with a drink, and ice floating within. The ice is the world you came from, and other worlds like it. The liquid is Underhill. It functions to keep the various worlds from colliding. We believe.” She shrugged. “That is only a theory, no one is mad enough to test it.”

She paused as a few of the recruits chuckled. Buck wasn’t sure she’d been joking, but she did smile and nod at their response.

“You’re probably wondering about the Mist,” she added, and several recruits nodded.

“That’s, well. That’s magic.” Autumn frowned, clearly not satisfied with such a simplistic statement. “It’s the physical manifestation of magic, of the point where energy and matter are one.”

One recruit, Jader, raised his hand. Autumn nodded to acknowledge him.

“What exactly do you mean when you say magic?” he asked.

“Right. Well.” Autumn waved a hand vaguely. “Magic is a force, a form of energy. Like the energy that powers your lights, um, electricity. Or magnetism. Or gravity.”

Several recruits nodded.

“Mages, of whatever variety including Champions, are simply people who can manipulate the force of magic, either by training or by some innate ability.” Autumn paused. “I assume you have questions?”

Every single recruit raised their hand.