Jim came to a dead stop. Behind him, Simon and Blair ran into his back, causing the sentinel to stumble forward a bit. Simon cursed beneath his breath. Ahead of them was a strange artifact. Unlike the other artifacts in the basement of the museum, the strange doorway before them was without dust or cobwebs. Instead the item that was made of brown stone with strange symbols carved into it, stood completely untouched by time. The artifact looked exactly like an archway, and the center of it was glowing with a strange silver light. "Tell me I didn't see what I thought I saw." Banks said. "I don't know, Simon. What do you think you saw?" Blair asked sweetly. Captain Simon Banks gave Blair a look that would have had most people cringing in terror, but the anthropologist turned cop wasn't most people. "I thought I saw our thief run right into that glowing center and disappear." Banks said. "Sorry, Captain. But that's exactly what you saw." Jim said turning his eyes away from the mesmerizing light display to look at his captain. "Shit, Jim. That's not exactly the answer I was looking for." Simon gruffed, putting his gun back into the holster beneath his arm. Jim shrugged, "Sorry, Simon.' "So now what do we do?" Blair asked. "Follow him." Jim suggested. Simon and Blair both choked. "Have you lost your mind. You want to follow a thief through....I don't know what that is!" Blair practically yelled. "And here I thought you knew what it was." Simon said. "Your kidding right. I have never seen symbols like that. They closely resemble gaelic, but..." He trailed off. "And you want us to follow a thief through something that not even Sandburg knows what it is." Simon said turning to Jim, "YOu must be out of your mind." "Fine." Jim said, then stepped through the portal. He wasn't going to let the thief and murderer get away. The man had killed two security guards on this job, and Jim would be damned if he let the man get away now. Captain Banks and Detective Sandburg watched the sentinel disappear into the strange silver light. Without even a moment's hesitation, Blair followed his sentinel. Banks waited a few seconds, but when they didn't reappear the captain breathed, "Aww hell, " then stepped into the light. ************************* 
Simon opened his eyes and blinked at the fuzziness of his vision toward the distant objects and thought, *Must have lost my glasses.* He groaned as he moved, his head pounding with his pulse. Reaching up, the Captain tried to rub the bridge of his nose. What came into view was not the same brown hand he was familiar with. Instead, a huge hair paw with long claws came into view. The startled Captain fell backwards, and got a good look at his hairy legs with its clawed feet. "What the HELL am I." Banks roared. "One very pissed of grizzly bear, Simon." Jim answered. Banks turned in the direction of Jim's voice and saw only a large black jaguar sitting on its haunches a few feet from him. At the jaguar's paws, apparently still unconscious, was a grey wolf. "What the..." Banks started. 
The jaguar answered, though his mouth wasn't really moving, "We've been transformed into our spirit guides." the voice sounded like Jim. "How?" Banks asked. The jaguar was Jim. He knew that. Which meant the wolf was Sandburg. Then memory hit. The portal. Banks looked over his now furry shoulder, and saw only rolling grassy hills, like the one they were on. "Don't bother. The portal is gone. Or at least not here." Jim said. A whine told them the grey wolf..er Blair was waking up. "Easy there, Chief." Jim said placing a paw on the wolf's shoulders. The wolf looked up at Jim. "Oh, man. Are we in the spirit plane?" Blair asked. "Nope, no jungle here." Jim said. "Oh. Then why are you a jaguar?" Blair asked confused. "I don't know, Chief. We were kinda hoping you had the answer to that." "We?" Blair moved to get up on all four paws. Looking around he spotted the extremely large grizzly bear. "Wow. Is that Simon?" Blair asked. "Who the hell else would it be, Sandburg. Yogi Bear!" Simon snapped. "You know, Simon. I've always suspected your spirit guide was a bear. I mean your both big, mean, and grumpy." "I'll grumpy you." Simon said mock swinging at the wolf, who adroitly leaped away. "Easy guys. We haven't got time for games. Blair, you might not have noticed, but the portal is not here." Jim said. That stopped the wolf, who was getting ready to leap at Simon. Blair looked around. 
"Damn. Your right. I was just hoping we could go back through the portal after we caught the thief." "Now what do we do?" Simon asked. "Maybe we got flung further from the portal." Blair suggested. As they spoke a peregrine falcon circled overhead. The bird eventually lighted onto a branch of the one lonely tree on the hill. 
"You cannot go back." The bird said in feminine voice. The three Cascade officer looked at the falcon. "Who are you?" Blair asked padding to the foot of the tree. "My name is Clara. I was brought here nearly twenty years ago by one of the portals." "You mean your from earth?" Blair asked. "Yes. I was an archeologist. We had found one of the Elven portals at a dig in Ireland. Somehow my husband activated the portal, and we stepped through out of curiosity. On this side I was like you see me. My husband was an owl." "Wait did you just say Elven Portal?" Jim asked. "Yes. This is the elven world. There are no humans here. Humans who find there way here through the portals are transformed to their spirit guides. You'll be able to tell those who were once human because they will be earth type animals." "Are there other types?" Simon asked. "Yes. Everything you've ever heard of in mythology exists in this world. Unicorns, centaurs, elves, dragons, dwarves. But the rulers are the elves." "I'm dreaming. That's it I'm having a fucking nightmare, and I'd like to wake up now!" Simon roared. The only answer was the sound of his roar echoing through the hills.
"Where the hell are they!!!" Captain Taggert
yelled, his voice reverbating
through the empty halls of the museum.
Bryan Rafe shrugged. Megan Conner just shook her head, and Henri Brown
answered, "We don't know. Ellison said he spotted the thief going down
this
hallway. We haven't seen 'em since."
"Well, dammit. We need to find them." Taggert said. The group split
up and
looked down the ominous hallway that Henri indicated.
"The door to the basement is half open, Captain. Perhaps they went down
here?" Megan said. Snapping on her flashlight, or torch as she would call
it, Megan Conner descended the stairs. Behind her Rafe flipped on his
flashlight, and followed with Taggert and brown at his heels. All had their
weapon pointed levelly, eyes constantly searching for any sign of their
friends and comrades.
A dropped box crashing to the floor and the sound of something fragile
breaking alerted the detectives to the presence of the thief.
"Freeze, Cascade PD!" Henri yelled followed by the scream from the
others.
The thief dived behind a statue, and shot at them with his own gun.
The detectives returned fire.
Almost contemptibly, the thief through his empty gun away, then stepped out
from behind the statue. The detectives moved closer, warily.
They never saw the accomplice step out from behind a shelf, and wave his
hand in their direction. Power stirred the air, and the detectives fell to
the ground unconscious.
The two thieves removed their masks, including their magic disguises. Two
blonde haired elves stood over the detectives.
"What do we do with them, Liam." the thief with the gun said.
"They are useless. We shall send them through the portal, and let our
brethren deal with them." With that the two elves picked up the detectives
one by one easily, and threw them through the glowing portal.
When that was done, Liam ran his hands over the carved portal, and the light
turned off, and the portal became dark and silent.
Nodding in satisfaction, Liam and the other elf left the basement, and out
into the streets of Cascade.
Jim, Blair and Simon padded through the grassy hills
following the shadow of
the falcon. She had told them all she knew, and then warned them at it was
to dangerous to stay on the hills. She had said that there was a forest that
led into a range of mountains somewhere far to the northeast. It would be safer
in the forest, and they would be able to hunt and survive better in the
forest than on the grassy plains.
For once, Blair was faring better than his companions. Wolves were built
for long distances, whether running or loping. Frequent rest stops were
required for the panther and bear, neither beasts built for migration.
It wasn't long before hunger pains began to nag at their stomachs, and
thirst dry out their mouths. The falcon led them to a stream meandering
through the grassy hills. Cattails and lily pads dotted the stream, and the
three detectives could see the fish swimming lazily through the stream.
"These claws must be good for something." Simon said after he
finished
lapping up the water. He then reached in with a large bear paw, and tried
in vain to bat a fish.
"I don't think that's how bear do it, Simon." Blair said.
Simon gave him a look, and then asked, "And how do they fish
Sandburg?"
The wolf shrugged.
"Simon, we can't fish here. However hungry we all are, we have to get off
these plains. I don't think she's telling us everything, and I'd soon not
find out what happens to us if the elves find us." Jim said. Jim, a black
jaguar, was laying down in the grass near the water, having drank his fill.
"Damn, your right." And with that Simon lumbered to his paws along
with
Jim, and the three continued their trek.
At one point, the falcon landed on a fallen log, and preened her feathers as
she waited for the three to come to her.
"This is as far as I can take you. I'm at the edges of my hunting
territory.
Just continue to go in the direction we've been going and you should reach
the forest before nightfall. Good luck." And with that the falcon leaped
into the air, and flew back the way they had come.
Jim watched her leave trying not to think, *good riddance*, then stared at
his companions. "Let's go."
How could this be POSSIBLE!" Taggert yelled.
On the grassy hill overlooking a rolling hilly plain, Taggert stood on all
four hooves and yelled at the insanity of everything. Beside him, Megan,
also stood on her hooves.
>
Henri looked over at the captain and his fellow detective, and saw only a
very large Brahma bull, and a grey mare. And perched precariously on
the Brahma's horns was his buddy and partner, Rafe, in the form of a golden
eagle. *This has got to be a nightmare.* Henri thought. Any time now I'll
wake up and find myself in my bed, hopefully with a beautiful woman in my
arms.* Shaking his mane, Henri snapped himself out of his fantasy. The large
red golden maned lion that was Henri Brown sat down on his haunches.
"This is weird." Rafe said.
"Where are we?" Megan asked her tail lashing against her
hindquarters.
>
"I don't know. I wonder if this is were Simon, Jim and Blair ended
up?"
Taggert said in a more calm voice.
A screeched turned their attention to the sky. Above them a falcon circled.
With a cry, Rafe launched into the air, the bird's instincts guiding him as
he flew closer to the falcon.
Halfway to the falcon, Rafe realised what he was doing. He was allowing the
bird's instincts to control him. He stopped his dive, and glided lazily on
the warm currents of air.
"Thank you." The falcon said.
Rafe almost fell.
**************************************
It didn't take long for the falcon to explain to them about the world, and
to tell them of Simon, Jim and Blair. The falcon guided them, but as with
Simon and the others, she left them at the limits of her territory. The
group continued on, hoping to catch up with the Simon's group before they
reached the forest.