“Ahh... I might have overestimated how close this tunnel would get...” Cerridwen’s voice boomed around the narrow space, drowning out the relentless heartbeat that Sorrel was trying not to pay any attention to but which was better than it suddenly stopping any time soon.

“I hadn’t noticed.” grumbled Calix, louder again, their own voice lifting the remnants of Cerridwen’s echoes and merging the tones together, a pretty effect that would have been delightful to experience had the circumstances been any different.

Tyffyn spoke next, though she whispered to try and reduce the noise she was adding – an attempt that was futile in practice when even their soft gasps of breath seemed to gain new life in the perpetually narrow tunnel. “As long as you can squeeze through, we shouldn’t need to back up. You worried?”

Cerridwen snorted her negative, “Holdin' my breath a bit more than I like but I'm sure it's gonna be fine."

Sorrel wasn't sure he was convinced by her tone, though that could have just been the way the echo warped it by the time it reached him. Originally he was going to be between Tyffyn and Calix in the line, the original intent to keep the broadest of them in the front being the reasoning. But while he'd had a few more positive experiences since their last adventure together, he was still the most inexperienced, and his position ultimately fell to that. If Cerridwen encountered something treacherous up ahead, then Sorrel would be able to head back to the relative safety of their starting point.

"Managing OK back there Sorrel?" Tyffyn asked right on queue, interrupting Sorrel's attempts at distracting himself by thinking about ... anything else.

"No complaints outside the obvious" he murmured, the agreeing caw of Lark cutting through his echoes in a harsh retort, a very soft "Sorry" at the faint outline of Tyffyn as she pinned her ears to the sound.

There was a little more chatter or the same sort, all of which boiled down to Cerridwen not having much of a clue what was up ahead, Calix not enjoying having Cerridwen's tail flicking their nose, nor having Tyffyn's head so close to their rear - and the fact that if any one of them decided it was too much, Sorrel would lead the way backwards to the entry... a feat he wasn't entirely looking forward to at this point when he couldn't even tilt his head to look behind without scraping the wall.

The reasoning for going this way had seemed sound at the time, the four of them having struggled to find any other route that didn't loop back to the cave they'd walked in at. It meant they weren't likely to experience much trouble from behind, but they would have to end prematurely if Cerridwen found she couldn't get any further. They'd find another entrance eventually, but none of them enjoyed the prospect of wasting time.

Except a bit of extra time was becoming slightly more favourable to the fear of being buried alive between the stones.