Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

Now he was including Riley
     in that decision, offering his soul to her as well to get her through her journey
     into the Carpathian world.
    I am certain. She is worthy of you. She can call me forth when she needs me. The fire dragon was fierce about it. Dax and Riley were his. He would defend them
     with everything he was.
    Binding Riley’s soul to his, the Old One wrapped himself in her, trying to do what
     Dax couldn’t—help to heal her faster. The soft whispers in the earth grew in volume.
     Dax noted Riley became calmer, the lines etched into her face easing as the voices
     soothed and the Old One pushed her organs to greater speed.
    With one horrible wheezing gasp, one death rattle in her throat, one last wave of
     excruciating pain, the convulsions subsided. Riley was very still for a moment, and
     then she turned to him, her eyes wide, haunted. Exhaustion was on her face, a fine
     sheen of sweat dampening her body. Tiny droplets of blood beaded on her forehead and
     trickled down her body.
    “Childbirth better not be this hard,” she whispered. “Or you’re doing it.”
    He forced a smile. His mouth felt stiff. Even his jaw hurt. He kissed her hand, afraid
     of touching anything else. “That’s a deal. I’m sending you to sleep now. It’s safe.
     I’ll be with you every moment.”
    As will I, the Old One assured.
    I’m holding you in my arms, Annabel whispered.
    You are safe, the female voices added.
    “I love you, Dax,” she whispered. “Thank you, Old One. You’ve given me a great gift.”
     She managed a small smile. Incredibly, her eyes were lit up with love when she looked
     at him. “I’m tired.”
    For a moment, his throat was so clogged he could barely speak. He swallowed the lump.
     “When you wake, you’ll be fully in my world.”
    Dax curled his body around Riley’s as he sent her into a deep sleep, his arms wrapped
     tight around her as the rich, healing soil poured over them. The safeguards were in
     place, and the Old One was on the watch. Mitro was dead and Arabejila could be at
     peace. He buried his face in the wealth of blue-black silk and inhaled her scent one
     last time before he succumbed to the sleep of his people. Life was good.

A PPENDIX 1
    Carpathian Healing Chants

To rightly understand Carpathian healing chants, background is required in several
     areas:
    1. The Carpathian view on healing
    2. The Lesser Healing Chant of the Carpathians
    3. The Great Healing Chant of the Carpathians
    4. Carpathian musical aesthetics
    5. Lullaby
    6. Song to Heal the Earth
    7. Carpathian chanting technique
    1. THE CARPATHIAN VIEW ON HEALING
    The Carpathians are a nomadic people whose geographic origins can be traced back to
     at least as far as the Southern Ural Mountains (near the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan),
     on the border between Europe and Asia. (For this reason, modern-day linguists call
     their language “proto-Uralic,” without knowing that this is the language of the Carpathians.)
     Unlike most nomadic peoples, the wandering of the Carpathians was not due to the need
     to find new grazing lands as the seasons and climate shifted, or the search for better
     trade. Instead, the Carpathians’ movements were driven by a great purpose: to find
     a land that would have the right earth, a soil with the kind of richness that would
     greatly enhance their rejuvenative powers.
    Over the centuries, they migrated westward (some six thousand years ago), until they
     at last found their perfect homeland—their susu —in the Carpathian Mountains, whose long arc cradled the lush plains of the kingdom
     of Hungary. (The kingdom of Hungary flourished for over a millennium—making Hungarian
     the dominant language of the Carpathian Basin—until the kingdom’s lands were split
     among several countries after World War I: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia
     and modern Hungary.)
    Other peoples from the Southern Urals (who shared the Carpathian language, but were
     not Carpathians) migrated in different directions. Some ended up in Finland, which
     accounts for why the modern Hungarian and Finnish languages are among the contemporary
     descendents of the ancient Carpathian language. Even though they are tied forever
     to their chosen Carpathian homeland, the wandering of the Carpathians continues as
     they search the world for the answers that will enable them to bear and raise their
     offspring without difficulty.
    Because of their geographic origins, the Carpathian