[PROLOGUE — SLOW WESTERN BALLAD — 82 BPM — E MINOR] [LOW MALE BARITONE NARRATOR — WEATHERED, RESTRAINED, STORYTELLING] [NYLON-STRING SPANISH GUITAR — SOLO — RUBATO] [8 BARS — DISTANT WIND — NO DRUMS] [VERSE 1 — SPARSE] Three hundred years before the story, When the western trails were new, Serrano miners crossed the mountains Where the golden eagle flew. They found a peak above the timber, Black against the evening glow, And carved their halls beneath the Sierra— Called it Sierra del Oro. [INSTRUMENTAL TURN — SPANISH GUITAR] [ADD QUIET BAJO SEXTO — UPRIGHT BASS ENTERS] [VERSE 2] From old España came their silver, From the south the minted gold, Reales passed through generations, Escudos worn and old. But richer still were veins beneath them, And the craft no man could buy; The mountain rang with dwarven hammers Where the condors crossed the sky. [PRE-CHORUS — ACCORDION ENTERS SOFTLY] And every year the vault grew deeper, Every generation more— Till men spoke low around the campfires Of the gold beneath the floor. [CHORUS — WESTERN BALLAD × CORRIDO] [3-PART MALE HARMONY — RESTRAINED TRUMPET ANSWERS] Ay, Sierra del Oro, Where the hammer used to ring, Gold below and snow above her, And the mountain was their king. Ay, Sierra del Oro, There are songs the old ones know— Of the day the fire came flying Over Sierra del Oro. [2 BARS SILENCE] [LOW GUITAR TREMOLO — DRUM HEARTBEAT ENTERS] [VERSE 3 — DARKER] No rider brought the warning, No telegraph could tell; The noon-day sun turned copper When a shadow crossed the dell. The cattle broke toward open country, Horses screamed against the rein, And something vast came down from heaven Trailing fire across the plain. [LOW THREE-NOTE CINDER MOTIF — TREMOLO GUITAR] [NO HARMONY] [VERSE 4 — BUILDING] They barred the gates beneath the mountain, Every rifle found a hand; Torches burned along the galleries, Torren's fathers made their stand. But led went flat against his armor, Powder smoke was all in vain; And those who lived fled down the Sierra While Old Cinder staked his claim. [INSTRUMENTAL — TRUMPET LAMENT] [SPANISH GUITAR + ACCORDION — CORRIDO FEEL DEEPENS] [VERSE 5] He slept upon the Spanish silver, He curled around the Spanish gold, On chalices and chains and bullion, On escudos centuries old. And every year another wagon, Another prospector would go— And another little fortune Joined the hoard beneath the snow. [CHORUS — FULLER] [MALE HARMONY — BAJO SEXTO — ACCORDION — MUTED TRUMPET] Ay, Sierra del Oro, Where no hammer now would ring, Gold below and snow above her, And a dragon was her king. Ay, Sierra del Oro, Still the scattered Serranos know— One day their sons will ride together Back to Sierra del Oro. [BRIDGE — DROP DRUMS — SOLO GUITAR] The years rolled east across the prairie, Rails ran west and towns were born; Old men died beside their campfires, Children learned the songs they'd worn. Some called Cinder just a story, Some said all the gold was gone— But the Serranos kept on singing, And the mountain waited on. [FINAL VERSE — QUIET — FORESHADOWING] Then one autumn, far from Blackhorn, Where Greenvale's quiet acres lay, An old fraud with a painted wagon Found his debts had come to stay. For Torren de Robledo found him, With a proposition grim— He had gold enough to tempt the devil... [1 BEAT SILENCE] And a dragon waiting for him. [FINAL GUITAR CHORD — LET RING] [VERY DISTANT THREE-NOTE CINDER MOTIF] [END]
