Excerpt: Storm Summoner

The Snow Queen loves only one thing; water.

She loved water more then anything, it gave life, and it brought death, and it allowed her to keep ahold of her vast kingdom in the north where water always was hard and cold. She proclaimed that she could never love a man like she loved water. But that did not stop foolish men from trying to win the icy heart of such a queen, many tried, and all failed. For the queen was beautiful and would grant any man who could sway her the power to remain with her; for all time. But no man could so much as thaw the icy heart of such a goddess.

And so years passed, and like the ice around her the queen remained eternal. Then one day a young man came to her frozen castle, he was no brave, nor was he particularly strong or amazingly handsom as many others who had come before him had been. But he had a good heart and a pure soul. He did not come to the Snow Queen looking for her affections, he came to her looking for acceptance. For the young man’s entire village had been destroyed during a blizzard, he had no where to go, and no one would take in a stranger who had lost it all in a blizzard; for obviously he had angered the great snow goddess. The Snow Queen took pity on him and allowed him to stay within her palace walls, an offer he gladly accepted.

The young man and the Snow Queen lived together for a time, the man keeping out of the great one’s way, and she generally ignored him, for he did not seek her company, nor she his. During the time many suiters came seeking her though. And always she turned them away, and when some refused to leave she would bring the man forward and have him remove them, for to touch her was to bring instant death. The young man was proud when he could remove such an eyesore for his host, and she praised him for his deed before sending him from her.

Time passed, and the Snow Queen found herself growing far more irritated by both the men who sought after her and the one she allowed to dwell within her palace. Finally she could not stand the sight of him and forced him to leave. Sadly, he left the palace. But once he was gone she realized that her domain was much lonlier with only her and her ice servents. She left her home to search for the man she had driven away, he was walking through deep snow and was very blue from the cold. She tried to help him but every time he would meerly apologize and not allow her to touch him, he did not wish for death nor did he wish her pity. But the Snow Queen kept after him keeping away snow storms, blizzards, and the coldest of temperatures, always fearful when he slept, that he would never wake again. Every time the young man saw her he would tell her to return to her palace, and that she should not waste her time upon a wretch such a he, so she stayed from his sight, but did not let him be.

One day though, she lost sight of the young man and could not find him. Struck with grief and guilt she searched everywhere for him, but she could not find him. In her despair she fell to earth sobbing though her tears froze on her face, it did not snow for a long time. Much time passed, but the Snow Queen hardly noticed. When at last she began to recover from her guilt stricken agony she looked, and saw the young man. He was coming towards her, something in his hands. He came before her and as he always did apologized again and again for his own annoyance to her. He presented her with a gift of apology. She thanked the young man and asked him to come back home. He agreed and they returned to her palace made of ice.

The Snow Queen enjoyed the company of the young man much more then she had before, and often would leave him to tell her suiters to go away, because she had no interest in them. This happiness carried on for months, till the young man became sick. The Snow Queen was very worried, but there was little she could do but make him comfortable. But this did not help, gradually the man became sicker and sicker till at last he was close to death.

The Snow Queen would not let her compainion die though! She appeared one day at his death bed and proclaimed that she was in love with him and would not let him die. He laughed at her and told her to not be such a fool, he was a weak, cowardly mortal, and she the goddess of ice and snow, the one who loved only water. She told him he was wrong, because he was like water, no matter the circumstances he always drove forward, and when he could not get through something he went around. He was clever too, and mysterious for she knew very little of him. She knew he could be as gentle as a spring rain, or as wrathful as a torrent, as when men would not leave when they were told. He still said she was being foolish in loving him, as he could not stand up to the cold of snow and ice.

She proved him wrong with a touch. It did not kill him, nor turn him to ice. She told him that wheither he liked it or not that she was in love with him, because he was so much like the water she loved. The Snow Queen would give the young man what she promised anyone who coud win her heart, to remain with her for all time. But before she could bestow this gift upon her beloved, the man died. The goddess could not beleive the fate that had befelled her. She left her palace and the man behind, locking it tight with ice so that none would desturb it and wandered the snow plains in grief. It did not snow for many years, and spring did not come, so great was the Snow Queen’s grief. When she returned to the palace she found that the ice had covered her beloved’s body, entombing him in ice. She did not leave his side. So that since he could not be by her side forever she would instead be by his.