Russet Mask

Part One

Almost two years later

Nickysha ran her pink tongue over her front paws, cleaning the mud off her fur ad returning them their original bright ginger. This was a daily activity for Nickysha, as the forest floor was covered in clingy peat and sticky soil where as the tree where a safe haven from muddy paws.

Flicking out her claws, white, almost clear, covered in dirt, Nickysha ran them over the rough bark of the tree branch she was flopped on, trying to dislodge the grime between them. A light colored plant flesh was left in the wake of her needle sharp defense system.

"Hey Nickysha!" a voice, which was coming from the ground below her, caught Nicksha off guard for a second. She started and when she glanced down she saw it was coming from a slim feline. Her pelt was an unripe coffee color stamped with darker carob spots. She had a tan colored belly and a face assaulted with khaki brown stripes to clash with the darker brown. Her eyes, a bland yellow, where accompanied by white lines on her cheeks and just under her muzzle.

"Oh, it's you," Nickysha peered down through the leafy branches down at the dull chocolate colored cat.

"Hey aren't you at least a little happy to see your closest acquaintance?" the umber cat flicked her tail playfully.

With a purr Nickysha lightly leaped down from her branch towards the ground about 15 tail lengths below.

"Hey no need to show off," the brown she-cat snickered once Nickysha had landed.

"Usually no one sees me, this is my territory after all and your on it," Nickysha swiped a paw playfully over the cat's creamy ear, "it's a good thing I know you because you would probably be a heap of fur by now!"

The brown cat let out a growl, her eyes twinkling. Crouching down she wiggled her haunches in mock anger.

With a superior glance Nickysha flicked out her tongue at the other cat.

Then Nickysha turned and raced away in delight. She swerved though the low branches and moss covered trees. She loved the feeling of wind in her fur. It felt as if she was soaring. Running on the forest floor was the only way to get a breeze when she was not up in the trees.

Leaping into a tangle of branches she quickly used her agility to bound through them in a ginger streak. Soon she slowed down, the bark on the tree trunks comic into clearer view. Nickysha bounded around until she got to her border marker, a clawed up burnt barkless tree and pile of rocks shaded flint and lead.

Sniffing around Nickysha noticed her markers where stale. The scent of territory outside of her borders where wafting into her side. She slowly went around checking where her scent needed renewing.

As Nickysha remarked her boundaries, the brown cat came puffing up. Her sides heaved with every breath.

"You never slow down do you?" the brown cat flopped onto a pile of moss as Nickysha scored she claws in the bark of a tree close by.

"Watch out I just marked that," Nickysha teased.

The dull brown cat leaped up and dance away.

Nickysha turn from her task to see the brown cat ,now far away from the moss and perched safely on an unmarked patch of soil, vigorously licking her chest fur.

"So, Nymphaea, what brings you here?"

The brown cat look at the sound of her name. Her white and spotted face wrinkling up.

"Well you know," she meowed, "boundary markers, other cats, humans, your stalker,"

"Excuse me," Nickysha glared at Nymphaea, who grinned.