Jasmine Windows and Red Leaves

Jasmine Windows and Red Leaves

  Elendae Armson

  Copyright 2011 Elendae Armson

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  Jasmine Windows and Red Leaves

  The gentle hand stroked over Sagira’s silver-tabby fur, smoothing down the delicate hairs. The pressure triggered an old memory of lying between her mother’s paws, having her kitten face washed by a strong tongue.

  Sagira narrowed her eyes with pleasure; the feeling was as satisfying and safe as warm milk.

  “See little Abbey,” Alexandra murmured into her pointed ear. “See how my young prince sleeps as soundly as you.”

  Sagira didn’t mind that the name Alex used for her wasn’t her Bast name. What was in a name anyway? ‘Abbey’ was as good as ‘Sagira’.

  Contented, Sagira snuggled deeper into Alex’s lap and watched the new baby through slit eyes. She could see the strong luminescent glow around the infant’s head, his aura pink and vibrant.

  Nearly a year ago, Sagira had smelled Alex’s pregnancy long before Alex knew. Her human scent had shifted subtly, becoming sweeter and stronger. While she had never had her own kittens, Sagira had understood what this would mean.

  She involuntarily purred louder as she remembered the daily scraps of bacon and cheese from Alex’s late night cravings.

  Abruptly, Sagira’s body tensed as she remembered wandering the house alone, waiting for Alex to come home from the hospital. Despite a kindly neighbour briefly dropping in to feed her, she had been distraught. Her purring stopped completely as she briefly relived the intense worry that Alex may never come home.

  Alex’s hand stroked the arch of Sagira’s spine again and the long finger tickled under her chin. Slowly, her body relaxed again and her purring returned. She reminded herself that Alex had come back to her.

  ***

  Walking on the kitchen bench with soft paws, Sagira contemplated the new baby. He had cried all night and seemed to be preparing to cry all day too. She watched Alex pacing back and forward trying to settle him, trying to calm his roars.

  Sagira sat down, her tail twitching, as Alex fussed about the child. Alex’s aura looked thin, faded, but the energetic connection between her and the baby glowed brightly.

  “Abbey!” Alex said, sounding exasperated. “Off the bench!”

  Deciding that it was better to obey orders, Sagira lightly jumped from the kitchen bench to the slate floors. The leap reminded her that her back legs were stiff again.

  She rubbed her furry head against Alex’s legs, enjoying the default stroke to her cheek. The gnawing feeling in her stomach reminded her that it had been hours since she last ate. She looked wistfully over to her bowl. The steel looked polished where she had licked it clean.

  “Meow!” she suggested.

  Alex glanced down at her. “Oh Abbey, I’m sorry!” she muttered. “I completely forgot about you.”

  Alex bustled about the kitchen, balancing the baby in one arm as she pulled a little packet out of the fridge. “Dinner scraps, I’m afraid, Miss Abbey,” she said, smiling. “I really have to go shopping soon.”

  “Meeep,” Sagira chirruped happily. She preferred scraps to the tinned rubbish, but it was hard to get humans to notice. She bit into the steak fat and ham rinds, gulping them down.

  All too quickly the bowl was empty again. She glanced up at Alex hopefully, but her human’s attention was back to the baby.

  Resigned to the fact that more food was not going to appear, she padded over to edge of the room, until she was below her window ledge. Her back legs tensed, the muscles preparing for the jump. She quickly shifted from one back foot to the next, getting ready to leap, and with a great surge of effort she sprung upwards. Her feet landed neatly on the window ledge. She grimaced slightly as her lower back hurt a little. She was getting old, no doubt about it.

  Sagira scanned the outside garden. A clean, grassy smell drifted in through the crack under slightly-opened window and her nose stretched outwards through the gap. As her nostrils flared, she could smell the new orange flowers, the resinous beetles, the freshly dug earth … and Kamilah. She tensed as she stared at the large, ginger tom from next door.

  Kamilah was fixated on stalking a grasshopper. Sagira pressed her head against the glass, slowly shadowing his movement outside. As his paw stealthily and silently pressed into the ground, her body mirrored him.

  Suddenly, Kamilah paused, one paw in the air, frozen as though he were suddenly aware he was being watched.

  She narrowed her eyes as he scanned the grass line for an enemy, finally glancing up at her in the window.

  Seeing her, he gave her a smug look, one that suggested that she was trapped inside and was unable to attack him. He turned to fully face her, his amber eyes staring unblinking at her, as though issuing a challenge.

  “Hsssskkk” she hissed at him through the open crack, reminding him of the day she had bolted through an open window and tore flesh from his nose with her claws. He had run like a kitten back to his own yard.

  Kamilah blinked as though he were surprised that she would remind him of this. It had been several years ago. He wavered for a moment before insolently turning his back on her and returning to the grasshopper.

  This gesture infuriated Sagira. She had fought long and hard to claim her territory, but ever since she had been nearly hit by a car, Alex no longer allowed her outside. It drove her to distraction knowing that Kamilah was slowly overtaking her territory, and worse still, had no respect for her authority. Despite her aching lower back, she vowed to herself to escape, as soon as there was an open window or door, and give that tom a thrashing.

  She frowned as Kamilah’s fur suddenly stood on end. His marmalade tail brushed up and his back arched alarmingly. She jutted her head sideways to see what might have disturbed him so badly.

  Sagira watched as he streaked across the garden and scrambled straight over the fence, his back legs vaulting him over. Her fur raised up and her heart was beating very fast as she watched the garden for movement, her green eyes wide.

  Minutes passed and nothing moved. She couldn’t imagine what might have frightened Kamilah in this way.

  Just as she considered jumping down to go to her favourite sleeping seat, a slight movement flickered in the corner of her eye. It was reminiscent of heat haze. She crouched, balancing on the window ledge, frozen as she watched the movement. Her heart started to race again as she saw what had frightened her enemy.

  A huge, black cat appeared from the haze. He was bigger than any cat she had ever seen. His jet-black paws barely moved the grass blades as he slunk forwards. His ears had three notches cut into them and his golden eyes slid back and forth as though expecting trouble. However, instead of a cat’s slit eyes, the pupil was horizontal like a goat. Yet, it wasn’t his eyes that scared Sagira; it was his aura.

  She stared at him with her feline eyes that effortlessly saw through the veil of reality, eyes that could see the energetic truth of the world. This creature’s aura looked like a dense spiral of smoke running upwards, a thousand arms and heads emerging and re-emerging in the smoke.

  She knew he was not from here. He was a creature from the fiery planes, from the sunless valleys of flame that she had only seen in her dreams. She tried to recall the word her mother used … djinn. A chill washed over her as she wondered what it was doing here.