Swords and Swallows

By Dixxy

Chapter Five: Rowen Visits Guldove

(Rowen)

All things considered, my situation wasn't all that bad. Granted I had no clue where I was, my head hurt, I was cold, and I didn't know how I ended up that way, but all things considered, a face full of naked cleavage could make ANY guy's day a whole lot better, as it had done mine.

Before I get into that, I'm Rowen Hashiba – by now you know the gist of who I am. I'm the Ronin Warrior of the Strata, I'm a genius, a night owl, and a sugar fiend. My folks are divorced but still on good terms (my mom even has a key to my dad's apartment, where I live most of the time, and vice-versa), I like reading, and my best friend is Sage Date. Blah, blah, blah. You got the idea, so let's move on to more interesting and significant things, shall we?

Now that that's cleared away, let me explain exactly what happened. Since my dad had to give a lecture at a convention, I had the apartment to myself as usual. I decided to get some reading done (the book of the day was the Kurt Vonnegut classic Breakfast of Champions) when I heard something moving inside the house. When I went to investigate, everything was suddenly covered in shadows.

Next thing I knew, I woke up lying in a small boat, I felt my shirt clinging to chest from sheer wetness, and I could smell fish and ocean all around, which was a smell that I've never been very fond of. Though my first thought was "boy, I haven't felt this shitty since that time Sage and I snuck into my dad's liquor cabinet", but the second was "what the hell am I doing in a boat?" I moaned from both a headache and a stomachache before someone told me to quite down. I didn't argue, but the motion of the water under the boat made me feel sicker. Had I eaten recently, the other person in the boat would have seen my last meal.

After what felt like a few hours but could have been a few minutes for all I know, the boat docked. I heard the boater speak with a woman, but I felt too sick to move. I thought I was going to die right then and there I felt so horrible. Well, maybe not die, but at least crawl up in a nice, warm bed with lots of blankets.

I hate my life.

And then. . . I saw heaven.

Heaven being a busty blonde babe with a dress that showed more than a little cleavage. It wasn't even as if the dress was pushing up her breasts to make them look better. Oh no. Part of the front of the dress was missing, showing a bare midriff and proof that this woman did not know the meaning of the word bra. Suddenly my sensation of coldness was gone, because THIS CHICK WAS HOT!

I stand corrected – I LOVE MY LIFE!

"Will you marry me?"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "If it weren't for the fact Korcha tells me you're probably delirious from swallowing too much sea water, I'd shove the wrong end of a rake up where the sun doesn't shine," she said. It took a while for this to register (my mind was still a little foggy from all the water and cold), but I quickly shut up when I realized exactly what she meant. She stepped into the boat, causing it to rock back and fourth and me to groan from the motion. "Hold on, I'll have you out in a second." Gently, yet very firmly, she hefted me upright and threw one of my arms around her shoulder. I was too weak to look up, and was content to stare at the bottom of the boat as she led us out of the boat and onto a dock.

She began to help me walk somewhere, my legs barely responding, as if they had the consistency of Jell-O. I wanted to throw up, but all I could do was dry heave. Though I couldn't see her face, I could sense she genuinely felt bad for me as she led me inside of a small building.

"Dude! Orlha, what happened to this guy?"
"Korcha said he fell from the sky and right into the water – he nearly drowned and he's pretty sick," said my carrier. Evidently, her name was Orlha. "I don't think it's life threatening, but I think he needs some attention before he develops something serious. Think you can help him?"

"Well, I suppose so. . . bring him into the infirmary."

Sometime after that, I lost consciousness. I know this because I distinctly remember waking up sometime later in a nice, warm bed with lots of blankets. I quickly noticed I had been stripped to my boxers (or at least, what I assumed were my boxers) and that I felt much better than I had.

I sat up and looked around, wondering where I had ended up. The room was by a large, picture window that showed a very tribal looking village consisting of tee-pees sitting on a network of wooden docks. About half of the people I saw looked like normal people dressed in very tribal looking apparel, while the rest looked strangely like half-animal, half-human hybrids. I raised an eyebrow at this. "Well, looks like I'm not in Kansas anymore."

"Is that whatCHA call where you come from?"

I quickly turned my head to see a shocking looking youth standing a few feet away. A punk – he had a red mohawk, several tribal body paints, a red speedo and black vest serving as his only clothing (and might I add, the speedo was in very poor taste – not that I'm a fashionable guy but he needed to put some pants on). He looked a little tough, but I got the idea he was a man of all talk and no action. Especially since he was a little on the skinny side. "No, I'm not from Kansas."

"Then why didCHA say you weren't there anymore?"

"Oh," I said. "It's an expression."

The punk sat down, placed an elbow on his knee and his chin in his palm. "Really. So when you fall out of the sky, people from your world say you aren't in this Kansas place anymore, even if you didn't come from Kansas. Is Kansas a real place? Like, a shrine to your gods or something?"

I bit my lip. "Um. . . I've heard it's a lot of flat farmland and not much else, actually," I said. "Certainly not a place where gods dwell. I'm from Japan, but I'm guessing that there's no Japan here, is there?" The kid shook his head, and I fell backwards onto my pillow. "Perfect."

"Oh, don't worry – Steena's going to see if she can straighten this mess out," said the kid. He gave me a grin. "Oh, by the way, what's your name, anyways? I'm Korcha – I'm the one that pulledCHA out of the water. Orlha's the one that broughtCHA here and Doc patchedCHA up."

"I'm Rowen," I said. "Who's Steena?"

"She's the leader of Guldove and the leader of the Shrine Maidens – Direa retired to Marburle and started a bingo group with some of the older demi-humans there. She's pretty good with stuff that comes from other world, but I don't think she's seen anything that doesn't come from an alternate reality before," said Korcha. He gave me a sly grin. "Just hope that she thinks highly of you and ya get to live."

I raised an eyebrow. "Alternate reality?" I asked. "Does this kind of thing happen all the time around here. . . wherever here is, anyways?" Korcha shrugged. "And while you're at it, could you fill me in as to what's going on and why I'm been brought here? I really don't have a clue."

"We had a problem with the whole alternate reality thing last year, but at least the guy knew his way around El Nido, since he was from the other El Nido. But from the way thatCHA were dressed and the way thatCHA were looking outside I guessed thatCHA come from a different world altogether," said Korcha. He sighed. "This probably is gonna be another headache."
"This place is El Nido?" I asked.

"To be more specific, we're in Guldove, which is a PART of El Nido," said Korcha. He stood up and walked over to my bed so he could stare out the window. "We're a floating village located in a small chain of islands – if you look over there you can see Fire Dragon Isle, the biggest island in the chain and home to the only mildly big city, Termina. There's a few other islands, too, but most of them are uninhabited by anything – living or not."

I gulped. "Zombies?"

"Ghosts, ghouls, Skelly, the works," said Korcha. "Skelly isn't too bad though – his jokes can be pretty bad, but for a walking skeleton clown he can sure be the life of the party." He rolled his eyes. "Chances are, I betCHA that you'll be meeting some of my old friends, and Skelly's just the beginning."

I was a little unsettled at the idea of a skeletal clown, and hoped I wouldn't have to meet him. I'm not afraid of clowns – I'm rather fond of them, actually – but I'm not very fond of the living dead, and that included undead clowns. "Fascinating," was my best response.

No sooner had I spoke when I noticed the return of the blonde and a white haired woman dressed ornately in blue, purple, and red. The ornately dressed woman, I guessed, was Steena. As soon as she saw me, she smiled kindly. I smiled back as she sat on the edge of my bed (Korcha backed away). "You must be our drifter."

"You could say that," I said. "My name's Rowen, and you must be Steena."

"So Korcha filled you in, then," she said calmly. She held out her hand, and much to my surprise I saw my armor orbe sitting in the palm of her hand. "When Doc was getting you out of those wet clothes, he found this and showed it to me. It contains a high level of magic, but it doesn't appear evil. Can you tell us what this is? Do not worry – I sense no evil from you and you can trust us – other worldly affairs are not foreign to us."

I nodded as I took my armor orbe. "Korcha told me you had a problem with 'alternate realities' last year," I explained quickly. Then I turned back to her more pressing question. "It's called an armor orbe," I said. "It's a little hard to explain, but I can use it to summon an armor." Steena nodded, kindly urging me to go on. Orlha and Korcha also seemed interested as another person entered the room – a man with long, blonde hair and a deep tan. I guessed that might have been Doc, but I continued with my story. "It's magic all right, and there are eight more armors similar to mine."
"So only nine people from your world have these armors?" asked Orlha.

I nodded. "Yes. They were formed from the armor of a demon lord who tried to destroy my world a long time ago," I said. "A man called the Ancient One defeated Talpa – that was the demon – and split his armor into nine other armors to prevent Talpa from rising to power again. Now they're supposed to be used to protect my world, provided someone evil doesn't have one of the armors, since the armors aren't naturally good or evil – they're neutral, and it's the bearer of the armor who decides how its used."

"Can just anyone use these armors?" asked Korcha.

I shook my head. "No. The armors choose their bearers, and this armor chose me. It's not exactly something you want," I said. "The battles are long, tiring, and emotionally exhausting. It's an honor to be able to defend the world and all, but actually doing so isn't easy on you at all."

"Next question – why are you here?" asked Steena.

"I have no idea," I said. "One minute I was home by myself, and the next minute everything gets swallowed up by shadows and I'm here in this world." I frowned. "I was hoping you could tell me what was going on." Steena shook her head while Orlha, Korcha, and the other man shrugged.

"Do you think there's anywhere we could go to get answers?" asked Orlha.

"Well, I would suggest we head to Viper Manor," said Steena, standing up. "Most of the party from the journey last year are fairly well spread across El Nido. What if the other armor bearers ended up in El Nido as well? That would be the most logical place someone would bring Rowen's friends, and perhaps we could piece together something there."

"Right! And there's that big library there, too!" said Orlha. "I'm sure Viper would allow us in if we were trying to find out how Rowen got here! I'm sure that your presence would be welcomed if anyone has any suspicions about any others who show up anywhere in El Nido."

"Viper Manor? Viper?" I asked.

"That's the headquarters of our government and army," said Steena. "General Viper is the leader of the archipelago – he's a very kind man, but he rules with an iron fist if we're threatened by an invasion." She winked. "But I'm QUITE sure that the REAL leader of El Nido is Lady Riddel, his daughter."

I laughed nervously. "Got her old man wrapped around her pinky?"

"In a word? Yes," said Steena. She laughed. "But don't worry – Riddel's a sweetheart. She only does that whenever she thinks her father's making a mistake, not for her own personal gain. She's much more concerned with the welfare of the people of El Nido and her husband, Dario."

Orlha grunted. "YOU'RE telling ME that Riddel's concerned about Dario? Were you not anywhere in EL NIDO when Karsh, Zoah, Glenn, AND Norris came to COMPLAIN about the newlyweds and their little 'escapades' in Viper Manor? For crying out loud, I've never SEEN anyone down three pitchers and still be able to walk out of that bar on two feet!"

Steena laughed nervously. "They really should get a room."

My eyes widened. "What are they doing?" I asked nervously.

"Everywhere in Viper Manor, that's what," said Korcha. He laughed. Then, he sighed dreamily. "But some day, I hope the fair and beautiful Kid and I will be so deeply in love that we'll be able to do things like that and get away with it. But of course we'll be more discreet about it, so that way the children won't be fearful of knowing what Mommy and Daddy were doing in their youth."

"Korcha? Dude? I have a better chance of licking Karsh, calling him a weenie, and living to tell about than you have of Kid so much as letting you brush hands. She BARELY considers you an AQUAINTENCE, dude!" said Doc. "Just give it up and move on!"

"BUT I LOVE HER! I'M GOING TO MARRY HER!"

"Korcha? We've been over to this – listen to Doc, because he's right," said Orlha.

Korcha whimpered and left the room, still muttering on about "the love of his life".

"Teenagers," said Steena. "He'll be over it soon enough."

"I'm eighteen."

"He's a very immature seventeen," said Orlha.

"In the meantime, you need to blend in. I would suggest you borrow some of Doc's clothing," said Steena, gesturing to the blonde man. "From the way Orlha described your dress, his wardrobe would be most comfortable for you. It would be best if you blended in with the rest of the people here as to not arise suspicion."

"I agree," I said. "I just have one more question."

"Yes?"

"Um. . . I don't want to sound rude. . . but what's with all the people who look like animals?" I said. "Is this something normal around here, because we just have humans where I come from. They look friendly enough, but I just want to know what the deal with that is."

"I won't kick your ass because you're not from around here, but they're called demi-humans. There are also fairies – little humans with wings – and dwarves – who are short and grumpy," said Orlha. "A lot of people around here don't like demi-humans because of what they are, but here in Guldove we all live in peace together. The only other place you really find a lot of demi-humans is Marburle, which is just beginning to accept humans – and they had every right to hate us, too."

I frowned. "At least it's getting better," I said.

"But it'll never be right, dude," said Doc.

Steena cleared her throat. "Orlha, why don't you have Korcha prepare a boat? We'll take the four of us plus Rowen – if his mother or Mel wishes to accompany us let them know quickly, please," she said. Orlha nodded and left. Steena then turned to me. "I'll leave you with Doc – if you have any other questions feel free to ask him anything. He's a very knowledgeable man and a wonderful doctor."

"We'll head upstairs to my apartment – you and I are about the same size so we shouldn't have too much trouble finding something for you to wear, dude!" I nodded dumbly in agreement, obediently following Doc out of the room and up the crude flight of stairs leading to his apartment.