Bleh, I hate writing sequences that actually happened in the game, but this one was neccessary. v.v Oh well, enjoy!

Chapter Seven

The fall, to James, felt like it lasted hours. He vaguely heard Sparrow tell him to hold his breath but instead he just screamed. And really, it was hardly his fault. Sparrow had just forced him to commit double suicide with him, had he not?

His wailing was cut off abruptly when they hit the water. Having fallen feet first, they entered the water in a fairly streamlined shape and nothing was broken. Thank goodness for small favours. Sparrow spread his legs and threw out one arm to slow them down. James just clung to him for dear life and tried not to drink the salt water. Sparrow kicked his legs viciously, using his one free arm to claw his way towards the light.

Finally, they broke the surface and James coughed, spluttering wetly, "You!" he cried, his voice wobbly from trying not to vomit. Salt water was vile, "Are you trying to kill me?!"

"I told you to hold yeh breath, not scream the whole bloody mountain down!" Sparrow snapped back, flailing for a moment until he managed to catch his rhythm and tread water.

"Well, I am sorry," James said his voice thick with sarcasm, "Next time someone tries to kill me, I'll be sure to be nice and quiet." From somewhere above them they could hear the bandits roaring with laughter. James sputtered indignantly, "Stop laughing at me!" he hollered at them, attempting to shake a fist and only succeeding in making himself sink again. He popped back up and returned to glaring at Sparrow, "When we get to Oakfield I'm reporting you for attempt murder, you... you... gah!"

He struggled to swim away from the thing that had just landed in the water perilously close to him. A moment later Pumpkin poked his head out, snorting water. He gave both Sparrow and James fleeting glances then paddled off towards the little patch of beach beyond.

"Yer right," Sparrow said, "I shouldn't've named yeh after my dog. He's got more balls'n yeh." He grinned and started to follow Pumpkin.

James fumed silently at the back of Sparrow's head for a moment. "Well, perhaps I'm just not stupid enough to leap off a broken bridge after you," he growled slowly trailing after the other two.

When he finally pulled himself out of the water and onto the sandy beach, James dropped to his hands and knees, moaning pathetically. He shivered from head to foot, soaked in cold water as he was, and wrapped his arms around his stomach. "I feel sick..."

"Yeh shouldn't drink the sea water, then, should yeh?" Sparrow replied as he wrung out his ponytail, "If yeh were that thirsty I coulda-"

"Joey?"

They both looked up curiously at the sound of another person's voice. Neither of them had expected anyone else to be down here and James slowly staggered to his feet for a better look. There was a little path off the beach that led up to the mouth of a cave and a man stood there, staring into the darkness.

"Joey, are you in there?"

Sparrow shot James a cautious look, holding up his hand, signalling for him to stay where he was. James didn't argue. He wasn't exactly overwhelmed with the urge to run up and talk to the strange, dirty little man. Instead he shrugged his coat off and set about wringing it out as Sparrow approached the stranger.

"Oi," he called from the bottom of the path, "who's Joey?"

The man whipped around, startled and stared at Sparrow for a moment. Then his expression melted into one of relief and he scampered down the path.

"Oh, thank goodness," he said, all in a rush, "It's my son. He's lost in that cave and- please. I'm afraid to go in alone."

James eyed his coat then thought better of putting it on again and tied the sleeves around his waist. Trying valiantly to ignore the clamminess of the rest of his clothing he trudged towards Sparrow and the man, utterly disregarding Sparrow's earlier instructions. He stopped, hovering just behind Sparrow's right shoulder and peered at the odd little man disinterestedly.

"Will you help me find him?" the man pressed, wringing his hands anxiously.

Sparrow pulled a face and glanced around at the beach. "Well," he muttered, "does this cave lead up there?" He nodded at the broken bridge.

"Oh, yes," the man nodded furiously, his expression turning from hopeful to downright pleading.

Turning back to James, Sparrow shrugged. "I don't suppose yeh highness has any objections?"

James blinked at Sparrow for a moment while he processed what he'd said then sniffed angrily. "Of course I don't. It's a child! I'm not completely heartless." In all honesty, he couldn't have cared less, but apparently having a soft spot for children endeared you to many people, or so he'd been told.

"So you'll help me?"

Sparrow nodded, waving a hand nonchalantly. "Aye, sure. We need to go through here anyway."

"Oh thank heavens," the man sighed in relief, clasping his hands in front of his chest, "Thank you so much. Shall- shall we go?"

"Yeah, sure. Come on," Sparrow gestured for James and the man to follow him and started off up the path. James glanced at the frantic man then hurried after Sparrow, "So what's yer name?" Sparrow called over his shoulder as he stepped into the shadows of the cave.

"H-Herman."

"I'm Sparrow and that's..." he paused and glanced over his shoulder at James, "What's yer proper name again?"

James shot Sparrow a disbelieving look, to which Sparrow simply shrugged. "It's James." He spat irritably after a moment.

The entrance of the cave didn't look at all promising. James paused in mid step and glanced around uncertainly. Water dripped from the ceiling and the soil and sand that made up the ground was wet. For a moment, James worried about getting his clothing wet and then he remembered it was just a tad late for that. To stop himself from throwing something at Sparrow he examined a stalactite intently for a moment.

During his little moment of contemplation, something bothered him. He glanced at Herman. "So, why exactly were you afraid to come in here? It's just a cave."

The guilty look Herman gave him immediately set James on edge. "Ah," he said quietly as he shuffled after Sparrow, "there's something I may have forgot to... er, mention."

Sparrow stopped and turned to look at Herman, his expression cool. "Is that right? How about yeh mention it now, then?"

"Hobbes," Herman spluttered quickly, wringing his hands again, "there... there are hobbes living in here. They took my Joey. Please, I can't get him back by myself-"

Sparrow held up a hand to ward off Herman's pleas. "A'right, I never said I'd stop helpin' yeh," he turned and started walking again. Both Herman and James hurried after him, each vying to be the closest to the adventurer with the large sword and gun, "How'd hobbes get their hands on yer kid anyway?"

"We were supposed to be going to Bowerstone," Herman replied, "but when we got to the bridge it had already been blown up. There were bandits everywhere; we couldn't risk going back, so we hid in the old coach house," he nodded at the ceiling, "there's a trap door that leads down into the cave inside it. Anyway, while I was sleeping I think he snuck off down there, or that maybe one of them snatched him... I was going to come down to find him, but then the bandits found me. They pushed me off the bridge- I nearly drowned, but then I found the entrance to the cave down here and... well, then you showed up."

James made a noise of disgust and shook his head. "Bandits... I don't suppose we'll ever be rid of those vermin," he swallowed quietly and glanced at Sparrow, "Have... have you ever seen a hobbe before?"

Sparrow shook his head. "Nah, only heard stories about them. Still, they can't be much harder to kill than bandits."

A strange, jabbering cry echoed suddenly down the narrow passageway they were walking along and they all froze. A shiver ran up James's spine and he edged closer to Sparrow. "I heard that hobbes used to be children..."

"I heard that too," Herman added, sounding understandably more distraught about it than James had, "but that can't be true. Those things- those monsters couldn't possibly have been children... could they?"

"That's enough chatter," Sparrow said, sounding surprisingly stern, "let's keep movin'."

As they made their way along the wide, rock tunnel another of those strange sounds echoed through the cave and James struggled to resist the urge to grab Sparrow's hand. "What's that smell..?" he asked as the neared what looked like a large cavern, "Oh, it's disgusting." He scrunched up his nose and clamped his hands over his mouth to try and block it out, but even that didn't help. The tangy, fetid smell seemed to pervade his senses completely and his squirmed, trying to escape it as though it were a physical thing. Behind him Herman coughed and covered his own nose and mouth.

"It smells like..." Sparrow started, edging out into the cavern. There was a moment as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light then he cringed back slightly, "Aye... thought I recognised it."

James edged up to peer around him. "What is it?" he asked then his gaze dropped to what looked like a large, dark stain in the centre of the room, "Oh... is- is that?"

Herman stepped into the room beside them, took one look around, caught an accidental whiff of the awful smell... and vomited right next to James. James yelped and stumbled away from him to Sparrow's other side. Sparrow chuckled humourlessly.

"Sorry..." Herman said weakly, shaking his, "this is just... I've never-"

"Forget about it," Sparrow said, cutting straight across Herman, "It doesn't matter. Let's concentrate on gettin' out of here-"

For a third time, something jabbered in the cave, but this time it sounded far closer. In fact, to James it sounded like it was no further than the next room. This time he couldn't stop himself from latching on to Sparrow's arm and clinging as if for dear life. Sparrow glanced at him, a glint of real amusement flashing in his eyes before he grabbed his gun and nodded at the little corridor on the other side of the blood-soaked ground.

"Guess that's out next stop," he said, "let's go."

They crossed the massive pool of blood, the ground squelching thickly with each step. James jumped in fright when Pumpkin bumped against the side of his leg, shivering. He had his ears down and his tail between his legs. That only served to make James more fearful.

They hurried through the next tight, unnatural corridor, their footsteps worryingly loud. James eyed the wooden planks and beams supporting the ceiling and wondered who had put them there, and more importantly, how long ago. He released his grip on Sparrow's arm, instead letting his hand fall to rest on Pumpkin's head. The dog might have been terrified, but he was certainly a better choice than Herman.

Sparrow stopped suddenly at the end of the tunnel and turned, placing a hand on James's chest to force him to stop. "Wait here," he said, "don't move until I come back. Unless, yeh know, I die. Then yeh can move all yeh like, preferably back the way we came." James nodded numbly and behind him Herman made a shaky little noise of assent, "Okay, I'll be back in a tick," and with a disturbingly cheerful smile, he bounded off around the corner and into the next room.

The frightening jabbering noises from earlier exploded a mere moment after Sparrow disappeared from sight. James yelped involuntarily and shrank back, bumping against Herman. Pumpkin whined, shivering against the side of James's leg even harder.

And then the gunshots started. One, two, four, six, nine. Between every three shots there was a desperate little pause as Sparrow reloaded his feeble clockwork pistol and each time the hobbes would either wail in agony or cackle in triumph. At one point Sparrow grunted in pain but the hobbe that had caused was soon shrieking unhappily.

Eventually, the hobbes' frightening cries died away to the occasional pained gurgle and Sparrow finally called out to them. "They're dead," he said between pants, "Ow, that lil' bastard bit me... aw shit, that's gonna get infected..."

James glanced over his shoulder at Herman then edged down into the open room. He peeked around the scaffold nervously, his stomach twisting in a mixture of fear and a strange curiosity about what hobbes actually looked like.

Sparrow was limping around the bodies of three, lumpy little creatures, cursing to himself and dabbing at the bloody bite mark on his leg. He looked up as James and Herman approached before nodding at the hobbes. "They don't look it, but they're vicious little buggers," he muttered, "Pu- James... make yerself useful and tie this around my leg." He tugged a long piece of cloth out of his pack and waved it at James.

"Why do I have to do it?" James replied, folding his arms and grimacing. Sparrow huffed and waved the rag with a little more vigour.

"Because I asked nicely and also because one of the little bastards shot me, so I'm having some trouble bending over," he said, in a perfectly matter of fact way. James faltered, concern flashing in his eyes for a moment and he stepped forward.

"Are you alright?" he asked, taking the cloth and crouching in front of Sparrow, "I'm only asking because if you die, I'll probably be eaten by hobbes, but-"

Sparrow knocked him around the head gently before prodding at his abdomen. "Aye, I'm fine, and yer concern is so touchin'," he said, "I've got this thick leather thing under my shirt, and its gun was a piece of horse shite so it'll just leave a bruise," he winced and hissed a breath through his teeth, "Helluva bruise."

James rolled his eyes but never-the-less pulled Sparrow's trouser leg up and fastened the cloth strip around the bloody wound. What it needed was cleaning, but James didn't fancy any of the water they might find in the cave and it was Sparrow after all, so it hardly mattered.

"I can't believe these things were really children once," Herman said, making both Sparrow and James jump. They'd forgotten he was there. Herman was standing over a young man's dead body. James hadn't noticed it before and he paled slightly, "Oh, Joey..."

Sparrow narrowed his eyes and glanced down at James. "If I'm honest, I don't fancy his kid's chances," he whispered covertly. James didn't reply, but he didn't fancy Joey's chances either.

I was in two minds as to whether I should post the Hobbe Cave thing in one large chapter or just stick to my regular in-the-region-of-2k sized chapters. In the end I decided to stick to the regular pattern. Don't worry though, they should be in Oakfield by the end of the next chapter!

R&R if you feel like it.