The doors leisurely opened and a tall, willowy woman, her skin the color of cinnamon glided out, braids of silver hair dangling regally down her neck. She wore a long silk dress, the hue of a pale morning sky. Despite the heat, a royal blue shawl adorned her shoulders.
“My friend,” she said in a melodious voice. A voice as serene as the patter of raindrops, but also with a strength of thunderclaps, Rand thought.
And such is the introduction to the lead female protaganist Mary Celest who makes her first appearance in Alexandria Reborn. But how much do we really learn about Mary Celest? In the Appendices of Alexandria Reborn, we learn: “She worked with Winston for years in The European Sector primarily in Berlin and London. Interestingly enough, the name, ‘Mary Celest’ also appears to be tied to the ship Mary Celeste. This mysterious ship was found abandoned and adrift in the Atlantic Ocean in the 1870s and is a source of mystery even today.”
More of the other mysterious clues as to her shadowy past might be the phrase near the end of Alexandria Redeemed, where this scene takes place:
Mary Celest was cradling a Barrett M82 sniper rifle, a slew of magazines peeking out from a backpack that lay by her feet.
“Mary Celest, I never took you for a, well, someone who used guns,” Rand said, the three of them standing in a circle checking guns, sifting through ammunition.
“No, most don’t. That is why I was so successful many moons ago. They used to call me the. veuve noire. »
“Sorry, ma’am. My Latin isn’t very good.”
“It’s not Latin, it’s French. It means the Black Widow.”
There was no trace of ego in her words, just facts. She read the expression on Rand’s face.
“Stories for another time, another place, Rand. I was a different person then, but, none of us are who we were.”
If you like Mary Celest, there is a rumor she might appear in a piece of short fiction starring Winston Worsley that takes place in 1983. Stay tuned. Publication date and title TBA.
Mark Wallace Maguire • Author, Creative Collaborator 