Celeste was the name adopted by a personality who had come to awareness in one of the fragments of the Crippled God which had fallen to earth when the Crippled God, himself, fell. Sometime in the past, the shard containing Celeste had undergone a Chaining in the exact center of the Dolmens of Tien - which were located on the north coast of the Isle of Jacuruku.[1][2]
In Blood and Bone[]
Celeste's shard was "freed" by the combined magical efforts of the sorceress, Spite, and the mages, Murk and Sour. The two mages were part of a Malazan mercenary troop under the leadership of "Cap'n" Yusen, which had been hired by Spite and brought by ship to the Dolmens to assist in the freeing of the shard buried there.[3][4]
Unfortunately, Spite was inadvertently trapped in the Dolmens in place of Celeste's shard. Because the mercenaries had been left marooned on the island by the leaving of the ship which had brought them to Jacuruku, they were forced to head southward into the hostile environment of the Jungle of Himatan in search of a way off the island. As they fled south, the mercenaries took the shard containing Celeste along with them, using a litter made of a blanket and two spears - which was carried by two of the mercenaries and guarded by a least five other mercs. The litter was necessary because - as the mercenaries found out the hard way - touching the small, black stone box containing the shard with their bare hands resulted in violent death.[5][6]
To his surprise, Celeste appeared as an incorporeal manifestation to Murk - and to Murk only. She took the form of an ethereal, green-hued, innocent young girl. Celeste and Murk had a number of conversations as Celeste tried to make sense of the mundane world in which she now found herself. Murk did his very best to answer Celeste's questions and to help her in any other way that he could. Protecting Celeste proved difficult as other parties that the mercenaries encountered in the Himatan Jungle were determined to obtain the extremely powerful shard for themselves.[7][8][9][10]
After a variety of "alarums and excursions", Celeste came in time to a decision - helped by Murk's carefully considered advice - of how she wished to approach her future existence.[11][12]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 2, US HC p.95/97
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 4, US HC p.155
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 1, US HC p.40-42/46
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 2, US HC p.97
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 3, US HC p.114-116
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 7, US HC p.255
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 4, US HC p.154-158
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 8, US HC p.298/306-308
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 10, US HC p.379-389
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 13, US HC p.492-495
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 14, US HC p.534-535
- ↑ Blood and Bone, Chapter 15, US HC p.564/569-570