Chapter Three

The following morning, which was the morning of Wednesday, September 5, 1990, in fact, Sylvia woke up around 6:45 in the morning, as she was often known to do. However, she wasn't quite as rested when she did so, due to her still-recent battle. She had slept from about 2 to about 6:45 in the morning, after eventually arriving back in her bed again. It wasn't a totally peaceful sleep for her, but it wasn't totally unrestful for her either. She dreamed of long-ago kingdoms and empires, for instance, not yet knowing why. And in those dreams, she often saw people who seemed to be at least a little familiar to her, though she didn't yet know why, for that matter.

Little did she yet know that those people might eventually show up around her in her life. But that was yet to be seen, if and whenever possible, in the future. In the meantime, though, she now would have to adjust to her new life as Sailor Skyhorse, for she'd just begun a battle that promised no definite end in sight against any number of evil beings in the Universe. Sylvia had no idea exactly what to expect in the future, as she fought those beings as Sailor Skyhorse, but she now knew things had most definitely changed for her in her life. Whether she liked it or not, the life she once knew was most likely gone forever. Or at least for quite a long time, if her recent battle was any indication, anyway.

Sylvia also didn't know just how Moonlight Serenade knew her, and from where. But that would eventually change, in time, if and whenever possible. In fact, about a millennium before, she had been an Israelite Princess and he had been one of her horses before she and so many other people and things had been sent to the future by a Queen who was now long-dead from the Moon. She had been visiting with friends there, and so had some of her horses from her home in Israel, at that time, before the Negaverse had come to the Moon fully intent on either conquering or destroying it. The Negaverse was too strong for the Moon Kingdom to oppose directly. But not too strong to keep Queen Serenity from saving as many sentients and things from it as possible so that she could send them to the future somehow. Sylvia and Moonlight Serenade were among those numerous sentients that she was somehow able to save, when she trapped them in her crystal, and sent them to the future.

In time, Sylvia had been born to a brand-new set of parents in her life. This was after spending nearly a millennium in some form of suspended animation, due to her being trapped in a globe of some sort until such time as her presence was required again in the Universe, in fact. The parents she'd been born to in the 20th Century weren't exactly like the ones she'd been born to in the 10th Century. But they were still somewhat similar, just the same. There were differences between both sets of parents for her, however. Differences which eventually would become apparent over time, as she continued her new career as Sailor Skyhorse, of course.

Her parents in the 20th Century had the same names, for instance, as her parents of the 10th Century. However, her modern parents were not royals from Israel, or anywhere else, for that matter, on the Earth she now knew in her life. Nor were they ever likely to be, if Israel ever became a monarchy again in their lifetimes.

She wouldn't necessarily act as she'd ever acted in her life of about a millennium before. But she'd still be much like she had been then, in time, once she'd regained more, if not all, of her memories of the past she was once part of in her life. Just not until such time as circumstances ever permitted her to regain them, most likely. Such as assorted events that might occur for her and/or other people in assorted battles, for example.

In the meantime, though, she'd have to adjust to her changed life, for the obvious reasons, as quickly as she possibly could do that. Starting with the first day of the rest of her life, in fact.

Sylvia woke up around her usual time, and soon had showered and dressed in her school uniform as necessary here. After she was done with those kinds of things, she got herself some breakfast of raisin bran cereal, orange juice, and assorted other food and drink items. Some time after finishing her breakfast, then, she left the Wakefield residence in her van, and went to school, as usual.

When she eventually encountered Elizabeth in her first class of the day, Elizabeth was in conversation with several of their classmates about some recent events in the area. Sylvia soon tapped Liz on a shoulder, coming up behind her as she did so, and asked, "What are you all talking about here, Liz?"

"The morning news was all abuzz about some strange occurrences at a local mall here in Jerusalem. They seem to think that there was a monster running wild in that mall, and most specifically in a jewelry store there, Sylvia. This was apparently the case for some time, before a strange pair of people fought the monster there, and won against them."

"Oh, is that so? Would you care to tell me about this battle that apparently was fought in that mall, then, Liz?"

So Liz told everything about the battle that she'd actually heard from the morning news and from other people in her life. She didn't know that Sylvia had actually been there, nor would she ever know that, if she never became a Scout as well. Supposing that Sylvia and any other people then with her in the future as Scouts or allies of the Scouts could ever keep her from learning that, of course.

She didn't know everything about the battle, at least not yet, if she ever would. Hopefully, of course, she never would know everything about it, if it could possibly be avoided at all. And only if she never actually became a Scout or an ally to the Scouts, for that matter.

"Why do you think they were trying to wreak havoc in the mall, Liz?"

"I have no idea why. Perhaps they didn't like the merchandise they were either selling or seeing in the mall at that time. Do you have any ideas about why they might have possibly wanted to trash a store or stores in that mall, by any chance, Sylvia?"

"Not really, Liz." Which was perhaps a half-truth, at least, if not either more than or less than that. Sylvia had a few ideas now, after having silently thought about the battle while still heading to school in her van, but nothing sufficiently concrete yet that she could put her finger on well enough. Or anything that she could possibly mention to anyone else who wasn't part of her new fight, for the obvious reasons, for that matter.

Whenever she had the need or desire to talk to Liz or anyone else in the room during the rest of the period, she then did so. But for most, if not all, of it, she generally worked on a new assignment that her World History teacher had just given the class here. It wasn't one that related to the one where she would have to create a fictitious nation, but it was still a new assignment, just the same.

Eventually, the period in question ended, and she parted from Liz and the rest of her classmates, where necessary here, so that she could get to her next class. Which was a foreign language class, in fact. The foreign language in question she was taking a class in here was Spanish III, for she'd taken Spanish classes her last two years at DBJHS. If at all possible, she would take Spanish IV the following year there, of course.

Some time later, after that class and others between it and lunch were over for her, she went to the main cafeteria again, just as she had the day before. Quite naturally enough, she encountered Rolando again in the line leading to the cafeteria's lunch counters. This time, Liz wasn't in the line, at least not when she got to the cafeteria, for she'd already received her food from the necessary personnel there.

They briefly conversed with each other, before getting their lunches. They received their lunches, and soon split up with each other so that they could sit at different tables. However, he sat at a table closer to her table, due to the facts being that several of his friends were there and that their usual table was occupied by other lunching students at the present time.

As they ate at their respective tables elsewhere in the cafeteria, they periodically tried to sneak peeks at each other, whenever they thought nobody else in it could see them doing so well enough. Especially Rolando, for he'd had a dream of some sort about her as he'd slept in his bed earlier, after his departure from her while they were still at the church.

It was a similar dream to the one that she'd had, by the way. Though he didn't yet know about her dreams of long-ago kingdoms and empires, for the obvious reasons. And he didn't know why he'd had that dream as well. Nor would he know until such time as he learned a lot more things in his life, most likely.

He didn't know this well enough, at least not as far as he could then recall, but he had been the Pilgrim who'd aided Skyhorse in her recent battle against Morga. He had unknowingly left his room, gone to the family's garage, and driven off in his car, without him or anyone else in his family realizing it.

A little while later, he'd silently parked his car in the mall's parking lot. And he was eventually drawn to the location of the battle, while also meeting up with Moonlight Serenade on the way there. When he'd arrived at the mall, he'd eventually found the clothes he'd been wearing while fighting against Morga and others on his person without knowing how they got there, or realizing they were there, in the first place. Also, he'd unknowingly found himself with some other items in his possession, such as pen-like, quill-like, and scroll-like items, for example.

He didn't know it yet, but those kinds of things would often be available to him in the future as he fought alongside Sylvia's Skyhorse as Pilgrim. This, of course, was for all the obvious reasons, in fact.

As the battle had raged, elsewhere in the mall, he'd found himself near Moonlight Serenade, and had ridden him to an upper level of the necessary store in it. From then on, he was part of the battle for as long as he and Serenade were still sufficiently present in the area of it.

Eventually, he'd no longer needed to be there, and left, just as soon as the need for him to be there was gone. He'd eventually parted from Moonlight Serenade, returned to his car, and drove back home, not transforming back into his civilian state until he was far enough away from where the battle had just been fought in the mall. Of course, he'd done that before returning all the way back to his family's residence, for all the obvious reasons. He rather silently parked his car back in the garage, exactly where he'd had it parked earlier, and eventually returned to his room just like he'd left it. All while still not realizing at all just what'd happened for him or for anyone else here, for that matter.

Both he and Sylvia ate their respective lunches in relative silence, whenever possible, at their tables in the cafeteria. Little, if at all, did they yet know that they'd often be fighting battles alongside each other in the future. God willing, of course.

Eventually, of course, they had to go to their next classes in school. They didn't see each other again until just after school. When they did, Rolando asked, "Have you heard yet about what happened last night and this morning in the same mall that we first encountered each other at, Miss Wakefield?"

"Yes, I have, Mr. Volois. Rather strange, wouldn't you say?"

"Perhaps so. I wonder who fought the monster then. There were apparently two people there fighting that monster. One seemed to have some sort of tuxedo outfit, while the other one seemed to be wearing some sort of sailor-style outfit. I wish I knew why those two looked like that, if they did, when they fought that monster."

"Perhaps you might find that out someday. They won, didn't they?" Of course, she already knew they did so. But she didn't know how much Rolando knew about the battle yet, so she asked him that question here.

"From what I've heard from others around school today, they apparently did. And after they fought the monster, they disappeared, and nobody knows where they went at the current time, it seems."

They conversed pleasantly with each other, even while he walked with her to her van. Shortly thereafter, once she'd put her backpack in the front-row passenger's seat, she drove away from school and to the Jerusalem-area stables Moonlight Serenade now stayed at. When she got there, she soon saw a groom trying to pull Moonlight Serenade out of his stall with a rope in the form of a lasso. The groom also had a whip in his left hand, which he was trying to use to get Serenade to move toward the door of his stall, while also pulling him with the other hand that held the rope lasso in it.

Sylvia saw that, and became very angry very fast. She proceeded to grab up a riding crop and head directly for Serenade's stall, hoping to get the groom to stop mistreating Serenade here, of course. A minute after seeing the groom mistreating Serenade, she was in Serenade's stall using the aforementioned riding crop like a sword of sorts to defend him to the best of her current ability. Several well-placed strokes of her crop later, then, the groom fled the scene, so that she'd not be able to whale on him more in defense of Serenade.

After he was sufficiently gone, Sylvia asked, as she freed Serenade from the lasso around his neck, and tossed the whip the groom had tried to use on him quite far away from them both, "Why was he trying to whip you and pull you out of the stall, Serenade?"

"Because I'd run out of the stall earlier, and he was one of the grooms I very nearly ran over when I went to find you last night. He's still quite mad at me, and this won't likely help his disposition toward me. In fact, it'll probably make it worse, from what I can currently gather in relation to him." She began checking him over for any injuries, et cetera, very carefully, for all the obvious reasons here.

"Well, no horse should be treated like you were being treated by him, if it can possibly be avoided at all. We might have to find you a new place to stay, if he stays employed here."

"I also believe he might possibly have ties to the Negaverse somehow. If so, I don't yet know what kind of ties to the Negaverse he might have, Sylvia." Sylvia found no significant enough injuries, et cetera, to Moonlight Serenade at the current time. Which soon made her somewhat happy, of course. However, not totally happy, due to the fact that there was a barely noticeable ring around his neck from where the rope lasso had been around it.

Just then, the owners of the stable came to just outside Serenade's stall. "Miss Wakefield, a groom just said you attacked him there."

"Only because he was mistreating this horse here, Mr. Sherman. Otherwise, I wouldn't have interfered with his handling of this horse, sir."

"Do you have proof of that, Miss Wakefield?"

"Yes, I do. Come look at his neck, if you want proof, Mr. Sherman. There is a barely noticeable ring around it from where the groom in question had put a rope lasso around Moonlight Serenade's neck, intending to pull him out of his stall." She soon let him into the stall, and Mr. Sherman viewed the ring that Sylvia had just told him about.

Seconds later, after looking it over well enough, Mr. Sherman said, "Danielle, she's right. Moonlight Serenade has a ring around his neck like Miss Wakefield said. Call the authorities and have Mr. al-Jabir taken into custody for animal endangerment, and all other necessary charges here. Ahmed, you're fired. Reuben and Timothy, make sure he doesn't get away before they can take him away."

Two other good-sized grooms then grabbed Ahmed and restrained him as needed until the necessary law enforcement authorities arrived, and took him away. Ahmed tried to break free of his restrainers, so as to get at Mr. Sherman, Sylvia, and Moonlight Serenade, but was completely unable to do so. For they held him down, and tied him sitting down to a nearby post of the stable, so that he couldn't get away before the police arrived to take him away to jail where needed.

The police soon took statements from all the necessary people here, and took Ahmed away not too long after that. After Ahmed was carted off to jail, arrested on the required charges, Mr. Sherman asked, "Sylvia, what do you think of this horse?"

"I like him very much so far, I think. I think he and I will get along quite well in the future, for some yet-unknown reason. May I ride him any time I so choose, if at all possible?"

"Of course. We got him recently, in fact."

"How long ago, if I may ask you this?"

"About two or three weeks ago, I think."

"Where from?"

"A family with rather strong ties to the Thai Embassy who had to return to Thailand just a little while ago, it seems. They sold him to us no more than about two or three days after they all got the news they had to return shortly to Thailand. And assorted other horses of theirs might also be purchasable by us from them. Horses that were actually born here in Israel, mind you, but still owned by them, in fact."

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes. There is one female horse by the name of Princess Caralina who we might be able to purchase from them soon, for example. They had to put their many horses on the market when they had to return to Thailand just a little while ago. And we put in bids for them with all the necessary people handling the selling of their horses. We hope to acquire several of their horses in time, if at all possible, in fact."

"If I wanted to buy Moonlight Serenade from you, hypothetically, supposing I could do so well enough, how much would it probably cost me?"

"$100,000, perhaps." The two of them soon led Moonlight Serenade out to a nearby riding area, so that Sylvia could eventually ride him like she'd originally planned to do when she'd arrived at the stable earlier.

"I don't have that kind of money available to me, I believe, Mr. Sherman." She mounted him as needed, in very short order, with a little help from Mr. Sherman, if necessary here.

"I figured as much. You make a considerable amount with your paintings, I'm sure, but not enough to pay that much rather easily for him right now, I believe. Am I right?" Mr. Sherman went behind a nearby fence, once she was set well enough on Serenade's back.

"Yes, you are. I make some money selling off copies of my paintings that have appeared in local art galleries, but nothing like that much money, it seems to me." She began riding him a bit, while Mr. Jonah Sherman watched, and conversed with her, whenever possible.

"And what about your quilts?"

"I don't sell them. I keep them after I make them, generally. At least for the ones that I choose not to give to anyone else. I also don't sell the ones I often make for other people close enough to me in my life, Mr. Sherman. I make a little money showing them off at quilting-related shows, for your information. But I never sell any of my quilts to anyone. At least I've never done so yet, that is." She soon had Serenade at a trot as she rode him here.

"My niece Kiena Jacano seems to like your work to at least some degree. So do at least a few other people, from what I've heard of late. Are you intending to make either painting or quilting your professional career, when you get done with your academic endeavors?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Then what would you like to do, if you can?"

"Perhaps be a horse doctor or something like that, if it's possible for me to do that in my life later on, Mr. Sherman."

Moonlight Serenade suddenly tensed, and seemed to suggest to her that he wanted to go riding elsewhere. Sylvia soon bent her head down and put it near one of his ears, and whispered just as quietly as she could, in a questioning manner, so that Jonah hopefully couldn't hear her, "What's on your mind, Serenade?"

"Have Jonah let me out of here, Sylvia, for we need to talk in private, if at all possible, as soon as possible." Serenade said this as quietly as he could to her. And he did so in such a manner that seemed to suggest to Mr. Sherman that he was actually whinnying and neighing just to her here, in fact.

Moments later, Sylvia led him out of the riding area that he'd just been in with her. And they went riding for a while in the area. They eventually found themselves on a hill several miles away from the stables where he'd been staying since his original arrival at them. About five minutes after that, at around 6:30 pm, Serenade found a tunnel leading underground wide enough and gradual enough into that hill. It was perhaps wide enough for at least two or three vehicles to be able to pass through it side-by-side, if and whenever the need or desire ever arose for the drivers or riders of those vehicles to do so at all. And they only found it after an opening suddenly appeared in the side of the hill without any warning. Little did they yet know that this place might prove to be one of their main bases of operation in the Jerusalem area, if not their only one, in fact.

Of course, they didn't know yet what to expect in relation to the tunnel or its just-seen opening. When they entered the tunnel, quite cautiously, some torches eventually flickered to life, once they were far enough into the tunnel. After they were, the opening that they'd seen closed up right behind them both. Another torch suddenly flew out of a nearby sconce, as they passed the first bunch of torches in the tunnel, and flew through the air toward an unlit lantern on a pillar near the entrance they'd just come through into the tunnel. The lantern's top lifted enough to allow the torch to light the lantern, and then the lantern flew directly toward Sylvia's now-free left hand. As it did so, the torch that'd just lit it returned to its previous position in the tunnel.

For about another five minutes or so, then, the two of them went down the tunnel until they came to a rather large cavern about 600 feet or so below ground, more or less. It eventually flattened out after they'd been underground for about fifteen or so minutes since entering the tunnel. The average diameter of the cavern they eventually found themselves in was about 400 yards, if and wherever possible for it. Several dozen nooks were attached to it, either directly, or by assorted nearby tunnels leading from that cavern to them. None of those nooks, however, was directly attached in any way to the tunnel that they'd accessed that cavern through, in fact. They were only attached to the main cavern or to other nearby tunnels.

They both explored the cavern at quite considerable length, of course. As they did so, Moonlight Serenade eventually said, "This cavern might just be an excellent location for our base of operations in this area of Israel, Sylvia. Or at least one of them, when we're not having to be in the city at all, of course, that is."

"But?"

"We'll need to have a base of operations in the city, I think, for the obvious reasons. And we'll need a way to get between our respective bases of operations in the area, whenever needed or desired, as well, it seems to me."

"How about how we got here now?"

"That might not work well all the time. Horses are generally not the main means of ground transport any longer in this world. So it might not always be easy for you to ride me here, Sylvia. And if you tried to go all over the area with a horse trailer attached to your van too often, it might get unwanted attention from our new Negaverse enemies."

They explored the cavern and the nearby tunnels and nooks until about 8:30 pm or so local time, often with her on foot, before Serenade asked, "What time do your parents usually expect you home on Wednesday nights, Sylvia?"

"They usually expect me home by 11 pm or so on that night of the week. Why do you ask, Moonlight Serenade?" asked Sylvia, as she checked a watch from her backpack, which she'd brought with her to school earlier that day, in fact.

"It seems to be getting rather late, as far as I can tell, Sylvia. That's why I asked you that here, in fact."

"I see. And how long might it take us to get back to your stable from here, if we go as straight as we possibly can, then, Serenade?"

"Perhaps we can be there within thirty minutes or so, if we leave very quickly from here now, Sylvia." He began almost immediately after saying that to head down the tunnel that they'd accessed the cavern from, and she soon followed him. First at a walk, then at a faster walk, and finally at a dead run, until she eventually caught up with him again. When she caught up with him again, she then leapt quite easily onto his back here.

From then on, until they got somewhat close to the riding area they'd earlier left from, she stayed on his back if and whenever possible. And they often conversed with each other as they made their way back to that place. They did this for most of the twenty or thirty minutes they both took in order to return to the place from where they'd gone earlier that evening. Though not all of it. This, of course, was for all the obvious reasons.

Eventually, by about ten or fifteen minutes after 9 pm local time, they were back there and he was back in his stall there, with her attending to all his current needs, once they got back there with each other. As she was feeding and watering him, and making sure he had good bedding, Reuben and Timothy soon showed up around his stall again.

Reuben and Timothy greeted her warmly, and asked how he was now. Sylvia said, "Just fine, since Ahmed was stopped from mistreating him like I stopped him, it seems, Reuben and Timothy. We had a great time with each other tonight, in fact."

Reuben Norwood, a half-Israelite, half-Lesothon man about 6'6" and about 220 pounds, with a well-muscled build and somewhat darker skin, said, "That's good. A horse as intelligent and as good-looking as Moonlight Serenade, for example, should never be treated the way that he was by Ahmed, in my opinion. No matter what."

"Or any horse, for that matter, by logical extension, Reuben?" asked Timothy Aristophales Patangisopolis, a man about 6'2" and 180 pounds with Greek ancestry through his paternal grandfather, Dutch ancestry through his maternal grandfather, Israelite ancestry through his paternal grandmother, and Chinese ancestry through his maternal grandmother. He had moderately tanned skin, unlike Reuben's deep brown skin. A scar from a car accident when he was about fifteen years old still remained on the left side of his neck near his chin. That scar had resulted from a piece of metal that had bent and flashed out of its proper place for a back-seat passenger's side window during the accident in question. The car he'd been riding in about a dozen or so years before had been hit by a drunk driver during a trip to visit relatives of his in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. He and five others had been in the vehicle, which had been totaled, but no fatalities had resulted from the accident in question, at least not in the car he was then in. Some serious injuries were suffered by people in his vehicle. His meaning the one that he was then in, in fact, for he wasn't the one driving that vehicle, of course. The driver of the other car had been killed almost instantly after the crash, and one died later. Two others in the drunk driver's car survived with moderate to minor injuries, generally, for them both.

"Of course, Timothy," answered the roughly 42-year-old Reuben, who had a niece who also attended DBJHS with Sylvia. He'd recently been made a widower, no thanks to a still-recent Arab terrorist bomb placed on a city bus near the Flowers Gate elsewhere in Jerusalem. His wife and one of their three children had been on that bus, and they were killed when the bomb exploded just in front of and below their seats on it. Their other two children had been visiting relatives in northwestern Israel at the time. So they'd not been killed when that Arab bomb had blown up the aforementioned city bus. He'd lost his second son Josiah and his wife Helena in that attack. While his daughter Nelana and other son Moses had been in Haifa visiting relatives on his father's side of the family.

"I'd like you both to take real good care of him as often as possible whenever you're here, and I'm not, if that's not too much of a problem for you both here, guys," said Sylvia. "For I have a feeling that I'll often want to be with him quite a bit in the future."

Reuben nodded at her, as he and Timothy watched her work quite well with preparing Serenade's stall for his use here, in fact. He and Timothy watched her for some length of time, while she did so, before Reuben said, "You seem to be quite familiar with horse care, Sylvia."

"I've always been interested in horses in my life for as long as I can remember, for some yet-unknown reason, Reuben. Even from a very young age, I've always been quite interested in them, it seems to me."

Reuben nodded pleasantly at her again, and then said,."I think that the two of us can do as you'd like us to do here, whenever you're not around and we are. At least to the best of our respective abilities, of course." He said that after briefly looking at Timothy, who was also his best male friend in his life, for that matter.

The three of them conversed quietly with each other for a while longer, until Serenade somehow let Sylvia know that she'd then done enough in his stall at the current time for him. Not long after that, then, Sylvia parted from Reuben, Timothy, and Serenade, just as soon as she could do so well enough.

She went to another part of the stable complex, which was quite secluded from other areas of it, where possible, and to a shower room in that part of it. Several minutes after doing that, she had showered in complete privacy, and had changed her clothes to others she'd brought with her in her backpack, in fact.

After doing that, she soon left the entire stable complex, and went back to her family's residence elsewhere in the Jerusalem local area. She got there around 11 pm local time, and to her room not too long after that. She briefly stopped off in the Wakefields' kitchen for a bedtime snack or something, and in the appropriate bathroom, before returning to her room for the rest of the night, of course. She was quite soundly asleep in her bed again by local midnight, in fact. And lost in at least one, if not more than one, more dream about the past she wasn't yet quite familiar enough with in her life, for that matter.