The journey had been more difficult than he had expected. The baby was small and already weak and sick. Lara had to be careful and go in as an infant almost before she really got started. The microbe would have run from an adult. The continual reliving of her childhood was taking a toll on Lara, but when he tried to put his foot down and tell her enough was enough, she only smiled at him and pointed to the baby. With the microbe out of its body, it was already hungry and active, bouncing back fast.
He watched Jacques carry his son into the center of the chamber while the Carpathian greeting chant swelled in volume. Everyone present would pledge their love and support to the child, become family to him, vow to raise him should anything happen to his parents.
Jacques handed his son to his brother and the prince raised the child high into the air. A roar of approval went up. Shea slipped her hand into her lifemate's and looked over at them.
Thank you both. You enabled this to happen.
Nicolas felt his throat tighten. He brought Lara's hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm.
«Who names this child?» Mikhail asked.
«His father,» Jacques replied.
«His mother,» Shea said.
«His people,» the crowd of males and females, lifemated and single, added.
«You are called, Stefan Kane,» Mikhail announced, «born in battle, crowned with love. Who will accept the offer of the Carpathian people to love and raise our son?»
«His parents, with gratitude.» Jacques and Shea looked at one another with joy.
Nicolas felt the emotion spread through him. Joy. He knew the meaning of the word and it was Lara.
Appendix 1
Carpathian Healing Chants
To rightly understand Carpathian healing chants, background is required in several areas:
The Carpathian view on healing The Lesser Healing Chant of the Carpathians The Great Healing Chant of the Carpathians Carpathian chanting technique
1. THE CARPATHIAN VIEW ON HEALING
The Carpathians are a nomadic people whose geographical 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-theirsusu –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, Austria, and modern Hungary.)
Other peoples from the Southern Urals (who shared the Carpathian 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, Austria, 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 views on healing share much with the larger Eurasian shamanistic tradition. Probably the closest modern representative of that tradition is based in Tuva (and is referred to as «Tuvinian Shamanism»)-see the map above.
The Eurasian shamanistic tradition-from the Carpathians to the Siberian shamans-held that illness originated in the human soul, and only later manifested as various physical conditions. Therefore, shamanistic healing, while not neglecting the body, focused on the soul and its healing. The most profound illnesses were understood to be caused by «soul departure,» where all or some part of the sick, person's soul has wandered away from the body (into the nether realms), or has been captured or possessed by an evil spirit, or both.
The Carpathians belong to this greater Eurasian shamanistic tradition and share its viewpoints. While the Carpathians themselves did not succumb to illness, Carpathian healers understood that the most profound wounds were also accompanied by a similar «soul departure.»
Upon reaching the diagnosis of «soul departure,» the healer-shaman is then required to make a spiritual journey into the nether worlds to recover the soul. The shaman may have to overcome tremendous challenges along the way, particularly: fighting the demon or vampire who has possessed his friend's soul.
«Soul departure» doesn't require a person to be unconscious (although that certainly can be the case as well). It was understood that a person could still appear to be conscious, even talk and interact with others, and yet be missing a part of their soul. The experienced healer or shaman would instantly see the problem nonetheless, in subtle signs that others might miss: the person's attention wandering every now and then, a lessening in their enthusiasm about life, chronic depression, a diminishment in the brightness of their «aura,» and the like.
2. THE LESSER HEALING CHANT OF THE CARPATHIANS
Kepa Sarna Pus(The Lesser Healing Chant) is used for wounds that are merely physical in nature. The Carpathian healer leaves his body and enters the wounded Carpathian's body to heal great mortal wounds from the inside out using pure energy. He proclaims, «I offer freely, my life for your life,» as he gives his blood to the injured Carpathian. Because the Carpathians are of the earth and bound to the soil, they are healed by the soil of their homeland. Their saliva is also often used for its rejuvenative powers.
It is also very common for the Carpathian chants (both the Lesser and the Great) to be accompanied by the use of healing herbs, aromas from Carpathian candles, and crystals. The crystals (when combined with the Carpathians' empathic, psychic connection to the entire universe) are used to gather positive energy from their surroundings, which then is used to accelerate the healing. Caves are sometimes used as the setting for the healing.
The Lesser Healing Chant was used by Vikirnoff Von Shrieder and Colby Jansen to heal Rafael De La Cruz whose heart had been ripped out by a vampire in the book titledDark Secret .
Kepa Sarna Pus(The Lesser Healing Chant)
The same chant is used for all physical wounds, «sivadaba"note 1 would be changed to refer to whatever part of the body is wounded .
Kunasz, nelkul sivdobbanas, nelkul fesztelen loyly.