The Books of the Shadows III- Silver Tiger

17

Silver woke up late, and woke up nervous. He had spent a good part of the night awake, because he could not sleep for a while, and his parents kept him company for a short time, and then they went to bed. He woke up with swollen gums and a wolf's hunger, and without realizing it, he began to snort the air, thinking of getting dressed. His body temperature was high, he felt hot and uncomfortable in his skin. 

What the hell is going on with him? He must have had a discussion with his demon. Maybe he was sick? Did he hear them right? He was getting ready to meet a mate? His demon was out of his mind!! He didn't need that now! He had so many things to do! What to do with a mate?  

He had to get dressed, put on his shoes, but he found it difficult to get moving. He would have slept a little longer... What is this? He was so early in the morning... Wake up, demon... come on, we're busy!! The girls were waiting for him today. He had promised Senere that he would teach her to shoot with a bow. 

Later, he had arranged with his parents to go hunting, as it seemed that his saruman was hungry. Strange, he thought as he decided to finally pull his shirt on. He had just trained so hard that his demon could face hunger for almost 6 months without reacting to the sight and smell of blood, and now it seemed he was losing it... How could that be?  

The sun was already high in the sky when Silver came out of his room, determined to go to the main hall to eat breakfast. Already, everyone else was gathered around the hearth and almost finished eating. His younger brothers were already running around the table and squatting on the floor, playing. Moon was talking to their mother, and their father saw him enter the door gloomily. 

-Good morning, Silver. 

He looked at the Lord Commander and muttered something like "good morning," which made his father smile and look at his mother, as if they were sharing a secret. Moon immediately perceived the play of glances from their parents and, feeling left out, could not stand the situation: 

-Hey... what's going on here? They say good morning, morning, not lunch!! And you've slept so far? Seriously? Are you sick? She turned to her worried brother.  

-I'm fine, he said trying to keep his temper cool. 

He sat down at the table and rolled his eyes at the meat already sizzling on the embers. His lips began to tremble and his salivation increased quantitatively, which annoyed him even more, realizing that he had no control over his body. The demon took command. He woke up with a watery mouth and biting into the flesh that he no longer knew how it got into his hand, but the taste of the meat... that taste was as if he had just become acquainted with the elixir of the gods. He chewed with lust and sighed contentedly, as if that was the most important moment of his life, the only one.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him with open mouths, as even his little brothers stopped playing and they were looking at him curiously, he shouted: 

-What? and the little ones shuddered at his threatening voice. 

-Silver! You don't have to behave like that. Correct your demons or I'll do it, his mother said, looking at him firmly. 

-I'm sorry, but what is it? I'm hungry. 

-That's right, we can see that. It's okay, we're going to the wind today. It looks like you need it. 

-I'm coming too, mom! Moon cheered happily, almost clapping her hands. 

-All right. So is decided, after the War Council, we would meet at the stables. Get ready, she said, and got up from the room. 

The Lord Commander also rose, following his wife. 

He didn't even get out of the room as Silver's voice was heard throughout the room, angry:

-Wait, do we have the War Council today? I haven't finished the meal yet... 

-Sit down, Silver. His father motioned for him to sit down, standing in front of the door. You will not participate in these conditions. 

-What conditions? 

Silver looked up to his father, and he was still chewing without realizing that some pieces of the meat fell from his mouth, and one of his little brothers just made a grimace in front of him:

-Eeewww...

-Hey! 

-What is wrong with you?

-Nothing! What are you looking at?

-Silver! His father turned to him making a sign to the little boy, to leave his big brother so they can have a chat. When the saruman has so much control over your body and mind, it is not you the one who is acting out, I know, but try to see it for yourself too. A hard period is coming ahead for you until you can find your mate and tie the bond between you two, so this will not make you feel very comfortable. I know, but the rest of us who love you, we have no fault in this, so there is no need to growl, yell, or touch us. 

Try to keep it under control, like you have learned it all these years, alright? Your mother will help you and I am here too, but she will be there more because you got that stubborn wild demon from her. Prepare for the hunt, no War Council for you these days until you can keep your temper in control...

-But I can control!! Silver yelled and understood his outburst was inappropriate.

-Try, please. After the hunt, I want you to go through the saruman study again, read about it then we can talk about what happens or any other questions you have. Get ready for the hunt in the afternoon, we will wait for you. Until then, head to the library and set still, away from your brothers. Do Not touch them, and I mean it!! 

His father pointed the finger close to his face, what? He was treated like a little child? Like he was expected not to hurt his little brothers? How would he hurt his little brothers? He would never do such a thing, he loved them all! How could they think such a thing about him? What was going on?

So many questions made his head feel heavy, and he felt a little dizzy. He needed to go lie down, so he decided to go to his room and on his way there, he grabbed his father's notebook about the saruman demons, from the family library. The answers must be in there.

His father kept a fairly large amount of notes about everything he studied in all the sarumans. As his father was raised at the Coven, a secret Order was gathering information about the shadows and all the other kingdoms alike, he studied in there all there was known about the history of the shadow, including their sarumans and their powers.

So Silver begun to read. He liked to read, so he just started to learn more about the demons they had inside their bodies.

The saruman demons, could be recognized by their colors, and their colors matched the Houses the shadows were born into. They also had powers, for instance, the Warchild House was known for mind control of the soldiers, agility powers, beast mode, while the Shadow Assassins was known for the camouflage powers of the Scouts, tracking abilities and they were the best hunters; The Daggers House was known to master speed and agility powers, they had a magnificent sight, while the Diplomats could not use their powers at all for some unknown reason. They were the orators; they had the best arguments, but they had no special power like the rest of the Houses.

Even the Sun had the Clarity power, logical, mathematical sight, and they were the inventors of the kingdom. 

All these sarumans had also different colors. And most of them would start communicating with the shadow hosts when they reached 16 years old. At 18, a saruman could mate, and their mates were for life. There was just one catch though. The mate, could only be found if they would ever meet face to face. So, for the demons that would be kept inside the house for most of their lives, like some of the women were kept, the servants, or the workers in the mines, they could not find their mates. 

"That was interesting", Silver thought about what he was reading, remembering how surprised Senere was, when she found out about the mates. He did not know that they can only find a mate if they could meet them face to face, maybe, in their world, that was the reason the mates could not find each other. 

He thought about sharing things with her too. If she knew about that, maybe she could go back to her world and look for her mate, her true mate. Maybe if she would find him, she could convince him to allow her to do more things and maybe, she could find some happiness in there. She wanted to be free, and she wanted to be allowed to just try new things. That was not so bad, any man here could accept that from his woman, why could they not do that there? Her world was not right, Silver thought. She should get back and start a revolution! 

Silver smiled, he should just send Moon there, his sister, along with Senere, and they would never see that coming... Moon would be suitable to start the revolution there, and Senere was just the right person to learn from her. She was a sweet girl, but she was right... she needed to learn how to take care of herself so when she asked him to teach her to fight... he decided to teach her how to use the bow. 

The problem was that she was a Princess in her world. In here, she could not be seen as a princess, because if she would be seen like that, the one who will take her into his house, will have heirs with royal blood, which meant Silver's family was in danger. If any other family had a legit claim to the throne, it would be them or the others... 

He understood why his mother decided in the War Council not to recognize them as Royal Blood but only that was not enough. Thinking in long time terms, if she would stay here, and marry someone, that someone would have heirs and one of them would eventually claim the throne. Not right now, when his mother's influence was too high for any shadow to challenge her, but later, maybe when she will pass away. Who knows how the world would be like then?

Enough about thinking about the foreigners now. He had to read, so he just started reading some more.

About mating. Sarumans can find only one mate during their lifetime. If they lose it, most of them lose their will to live without the other, so soon enough they just follow them into death. There is a mating ritual that must be performed, so the bond takes place and become active and indestructible. Mates can be lost and they may find each other again as they are drawn to each other when they are close enough. There is a certain distance that the bond can call and drew one towards the other, and so far, it is known that the distance depends on the sarumans' ability. For instance, the gift of sight that could be found in the Dagger's House, may help a saruman find and sense his mate from a larger distance than one from the House of the Sun. 

Silver had the chameleonic gift from his father or his mother, and also mind control that belonged to his mother. He did not work much on mind control because it did not fit well his personality; he did not like to be forced to do things, so he did not like to force others to do his bidding. His mother had the gift and barely used it, so he figured that he would not use it much either. Therefore, he did not work on it. Spending most of his time in the forests and fields, he was using the Scout's ability and noticed how much they increased.