Chapter 38: The Mountain Drums
Link sat at the table across from Malgorg, sipping a potion that was supposed to rid him of some of the lingering fear of his nightmare. He had already taken some of the red healing potion. The place on his forehead where the maroon ooze had come in contact with his skin was numb and a little bit itchy. This potion was more liquid, and tasted like the leaves of Faron Woods smelled. It was indeed comforting. Link felled the vivid dream fade into a fuzzy blur as he sipped the stuff. "Thanks for everything, Malgorg," he said.
"Oh, don't worry about it. I don't have much else to do around here anyway. Is your head alright?"
"It's fine. It's just a bit tingly."
"That's normal. What was your dream about, anyway?"
Link shifted uncomfortably. "I don't really want to talk about it. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine," Malgorg said with a sympathetic grin. "You looked pretty horrified when you awoke. I wouldn't expect you to want to talk about it. I was just wondering."
"Thanks for this potion, too. It really helps."
"You're welcome." Malgorg leaned back in his chair, which was curved to fit his round Goron back. "You look like you're almost done. You feel like going back to sleep?"
"No, not really. I don't think I'll have any more nightmares, but I just don't feel tired."
"Okay. What do you want to do? It's around one in the morning, way too early to go hunting for dodongos, but you could read. Or fiddle with machines. Or…Wait, listen." The Goron sat up eagerly. Link sat upright and listened also, wondering what Malgorg had heard. After quite a while of straining his ears, Link heard a slight pulsating sound. It was rhythmic and driving, fast and heavy with every beat. "Link, help me carry up these drums," he said, gesturing to the ones near the corner of the room. "I want you to hear this."
"What's going on?" Link asked as he moved to assist the Goron.
"They're playing the mountain drums," Malgorg said. "The drums are huge, some even bigger than this. There are bells too, and percussion instruments of all types. The sounds all reverberate among the mountains and create this wonderful sound! Often it will start with only one but it will grow and grow until half the Gorons in the Eldin Mountains will be playing. Now help lift. One…two…three!"
Link struggled to help lift the massive thing. He grunted and stumbled. "It's so heavy!" he wheezed.
"Save your breath!" Malgorg told him. With work, they got the drum out of the hole leading out of Malgorg's home. Out here, Link could hear the drum clearer, still playing solo. "So," Malgorg said, "You want to try?"
"I'm not sure," Link replied. He listened to the constant pulsating for a while and thought about it. "I could try, but I'm not sure it would sound good. I've never played a drum before, or any instrument, for that matter. How would I be able to keep up?"
Malgorg laughed. "Don't worry about it! I see you tapping your hands on your thighs right now. Obviously you have some sense of rhythm, if you can do that."
Link looked down and he was indeed tapping his hands on his thighs. Malgorg held the two mallets out to him. "You'll need these," he said. Link took them in his hands and held them above the drum.
He looked at Malgorg again. "So I can just join in? Anyone can join in?"
"Yes," he reassured Link. "Go on, try it."
Link did try. He played softly at first, following along with the other drummer. The other played in a repeated pattern, but Link could distinguish weak beats and strong beats, and he tried to do the same. Pretty soon, Link had the pattern down. "Good, good!" the Goron chuckled. "Now try and put some variation on it!" Variation? What kind of variation, Link wondered. He thought for a while, and then an idea occurred to him. He stopped playing on the weak beats, but hit the strong beats as hard as he could. He smiled widely at the result. The accents really complemented the music.
He continued in this manner for a while, but the continued rhythm was starting to bore him. Cautiously, he started to strike the drum a tiny bit off the downbeat every once in a while. The rhythm changed dramatically. Rather than a straight, driving beat, the music was now syncopated. Link grinned and laughed at the sudden change he had caused. He was worried about how it fit at first, but with the Goron miles away playing a straight rhythm and Link playing a wild variation, the separate parts locked together perfectly.
He turned to Malgorg and grinned. "I'm doing it! I'm playing!" he exclaimed. The Goron beamed back at him.
Dark Link emerged from below, looking frazzled. "What in the name of Nayru is going on here?" he demanded.
Suddenly, Link heard a symbol crash from somewhere far off. Bells started to join in, and so did many other drums. Others were starting to join. It was glorious. Link could do this all day. As he played, he noticed the sun rising. Yellow rays of light streaked out from behind the mountains and made them appear golden. Had he really been going this long? Was the sun already making its way into the sky? Maybe he could, literally, do this all day. He didn't stop.
Dark Link came over. "Link, you've been going too long! We should head back to Kakiriko Village!" he screamed over the drums. Still he could barely be heard. Reluctantly, Link ceased drumming. He stood still and listened for a moment. Then he grinned at Dark Link.
"You try!" he yelled. Dark Link shook his head and made a gesture, signaling Link to come. "No, really! Try!" he yelled again. Dark Link shook his head, more vigorously this time. "Try! I insist!" Link demanded, thrusting the mallets towards Dark Link. Dark Link rolled his eyes and took the mallets. He leaned over, squinting at the drum, as if it was somehow hard to see. Tentatively, he let one of the mallets bounce on the surface of the drum, cocking his head curiously at the sound that emanated from the great bowl of it. Dark Link tried again. He then listened to the music for a while, gazing curiously into the distance. Then, with confidence, he brought down the mallets upon the drum and beat it with never before seen vigor. He played until the sun began to rise above the mountaintops, pounding out a wild rhythm filled with passion and a bit of anger.
Soon, however, the music began to die down and shrank to just a few musicians. In fact, Dark Link was the last one left, ending the song with four resounding beats. He raised the mallets above his head and stood in a statue-esque position, watching the sunrise. Finally, he brought his arms down and handed the mallets to Malgorg. Link could see that his eyes were gleaming with a deep emotion Link couldn't quite identify. "That's what it's like to live, and why you should not wish to die," Link whispered so only Dark Link could hear. Dark Link turned on Link furiously and shot him a glare as if to say that they would talk about this later.
"That was amazing, both of you!" Malgorg roared happily. "Stay another day, and let's do that again tonight!"
"Thank you, kind Goron, thank you," Dark Link said.
"Oh! I don't think I ever introduced myself to you. You were asleep the whole time. I'm Malgorg," Malgorg said.
"And I'm Nimoran. Thank you for nursing me back to health."
"No problem," Malgorg said lightheartedly. "I'm often alone in my house, and I actually should be thanking you and Link. So thanks for the company, even it was only for a short while. Let's go get some Dodongos, cook up some sausage, and you can be on your way, if you must."