A Circle In the Desert - by David P. Crews / A Vision

A Vision –

___My journey was almost over and I was heading south now, back toward the great crossing and the distant green shores of home. I had one more night of camping before the long drive to Texas. One more night under the sharp stars and the quiet clouds and the dry night air. I expected nothing, but I was ready for anything. I had a dream.

___I was a man of power – a sorcerer of some note. I was seasoned and confident in my abilities and my in role.

___I was assisting a group of peace officers who had been tracking a pair of criminals. They had followed them to a cave and I had been called in to help because of the nature of the cave. It was a place not entirely of this world – a magical cave of some power that these good men knew they could not physically enter.

___I could enter the cave, however, as this was part of my dual nature and the prime expression of being a sorcerer. I confidently entered the portal to determine if the two men had crossed into it.

___Inside the cave, I found something that told me immediately that the men had, indeed, been here, but that they would never come out again. They had been taken by a jaguar.

___The jaguar was a denizen of the other world – the world of magic to which the cave was a nexus. It was a magic jaguar that had taken those men and I knew that they would never be seen again in the world outside. I gathered up the thing that told me this was true and took it outside the cave to show the officers who were waiting for me.

___When they saw it, they understood that their search was over and justice had been done. I did not have to say anything, only to hold up the great feather that I had brought out of the cave. It was longer than any man's arm and was irridescent, bright, and beautiful. It was the feather of the Jaguar.