The creature at the end of the cavern was a behemoth, absolutely gigantic. It was seemingly fast asleep, though even in sleep it was crouched rather than lying prone, as though it would be ready to pounce the moment it woke up. I had poked my head through the doorway, but quickly retreated to have a hushed discussion with the rest of my party.
"There has to be another way through" said Cal, clearly not happy about the concept of trying to get through an entire chamber without waking a monster. "Knowing out really luck, halfway through we'll step on a trap that rings a giant bell of something."
I thought about that for a moment. It wasn't beyond the realms of possibility.
"I'm sure there won't be anything like that", I whispered, keeping my voice so low that there was no chance of it waking the beast in the next room. "We just need to go as fast and as quietly as we can."
I rummaged in my pack for a minute and lay sixteen pieces of cloth and twine on the floor. Quill and Cal looked at me in confusion, while Root immediately understood what I was going for and grabbed 4 pieces of cloth.
"We each tie a piece of cloth around our hooves, and that way our hoofbeats won't wake the creature." I explained. It took a while, but we all helped each other get ready until we were all stood with our feet safely wrapped. I took a few steps to test, and aside from a very quiet thump as my hooves came down there was no noise at all.
I looked at the pets that were accompanying us, Quill's treent, Oak, and Root's enormous dog, Trunk. I'd seen Trunk move through trees so silently that even while watching him, I couldn't hear a sound, but Oak wasn't the most stealthy of creatures.
Quill saw me looking and quickly reassured me. "Oak will be in my bag for this, it'll be easier for all of us."
I nodded, and we all took our places at the doorway. The entrance was made of carved stone, surprisingly intricate and delicate with the floral designs that were carved into it expertly. But when I had glanced into the room, I had seen that the floor was just rough rock, covered with grit and pebbles and bits of rubble that were all guaranteed to make a noise if we weren't unbelievably careful.
One by one, we crept forwards as silently as we could. We had only taken about 10 steps when the creature twitched and we all froze in place, concerned that it would turn and spot us. I waited for a few seconds with baited breath, but it still seemed to be asleep. I caught Cal's eye and nodded, then began our slow march forwards again. There was no further incident until we got about halfway through the room, when Quill must have dislodged a pebble as she walked. We all froze once again, the noise from the pebble shifting on the floor sounding like a crash in the absolute silence. Once again the creature twitched but didn't stir, though I did notice that the rhythmic breathing had changed to a much shallower rhythm.
Close to waking up. I thought.
We carried on, trying not to move too fast even as we approached the exit. When I was just a few steps away from the exit I realised what had been gnawing at me for the last few seconds. I couldn't hear it breathing anymore. I looked up at it, and my eyes met the deep red eyes of a very awake, and very alert beast.