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English
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Published:
2022-07-01
Updated:
2023-12-23
Words:
5,500
Chapters:
20/?
Comments:
10
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30
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Songs of the Wandering Inn That Never Were (And Some That Probably Shouldn't Be)

Chapter 20: The Beating Heart of the Mountain

Summary:

One of my favorite characters in the series, who only ever got one chapter, is the drumming Troll in the caves, in Interlude, Songs and Stories. I envision something like HU's Wolf Totem for the feeling, with nothing but drums for instruments.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

From an unassuming cave
Comes a sound from days of yore
The ground rumbles at your feet
It's the Beating Heart of the Mountain's Roar

Look out at the passes
See them shake and twist
It’s no ancient dragonlord
It's the beating heart of the mountain's fist

The oceans moving and the mountains rise
The rivers churning rocks into loam
Driven by the music in these caverns
We are the world's metronome

The first thing that you feel inside
Pressure echoes from the walls
You're under only one rule now
The Beating Heart of the Mountain's law

When you visit bring us gifts
of songs beyond the world's end
You might be the the few we call
The Beating Heart of the Mountain's friend.

The Lord of the Dance would cross the ocean
The Lord of the Dance would make any climb
So for once in his life he could feel the rhythm
While the legends of cadence keep the time

Trespass with ill intent
You're coming down a one way path
No one ever suffers twice
The Beating Heart of the Mountain's wrath

A troop of a thousand [Knights] rode out
And ventured underneath the land
The last thing that they felt was the back
Of the beating heart of the mountain's hand

Your friends went in they're buried now
While you stayed paralyzed in fear
You run back home but always know
The beating heart of the mountain's...still here

Wars can rage, and immortals fall
Don't care about how topsiders scheme and connive
The Trolls of the Deeps will keep the mountains humming
Laying down a beat the only we can survive

Notes:

This is one of the songs with the longest time between writing and publishing I've had. It's one of two that I've gone and recorded with my family.