The Snow Queen 1

First Story

The Looking-Glass

and the Broken Fragments

The Snow Queen sat on her throne of ice, surveying all the people who toiled in service to her cold delight. She was very beautiful, but it was a frozen beauty. Her long hair was white, totally devoid of color. Her eyes were the frozen blue of lake water and her lips were a deep and vivid slash of purplish blue.

She was not human and had never been. She could not think or feel as humans did, with her frozen heart. She could not recall a time when she did not exist, though she knew such a time existed. She could recall being a child, raised by demons in this cold region, up above the countries where humans lived, but the demons were as nothing to her. No one had ever held her close and sang her songs or rocked her to sleep.

As she grew up, the demons told her she was a Queen, the Snow Queen and they were there to serve her. She did not know where she came from or her purpose in the world, so she made her own. She gathered people around her to serve her, enthralling them with her icy touch and they gave her anything she wanted. Still, some small part of humanity must have existed in her icy heart, for she was lonely and desired a consort.

She called one of the demons to her who had raised her. The old female demon entered the ice chamber of the Queen and bowed low before her throne.

"What do you wish, my Queen?" the demon hissed. "Whatever you desire, it shall be made so."

The Snow Queen nodded, acknowledging the demon's obedience. "I desire a consort, a male to share my bed and hold me at the night, to take the boredom from my days. Where shall I look for such a being?"

The demon cocked her head thoughtfully. This was a bit of a problem. It was well known that any human male the Queen took to her bed did not last long in her icy grip, a few nights at most before the ice entered his body so deeply that he ceased to breath.

"There is a tale," the demon began. It paused thoughtfully. The Queen would need someone both hot blooded enough that her ice would not freeze him and who would look at her with something akin to love, in order that he would stay. Only someone with a shard of the looking glass in their heart would fulfill both requirements.

"Go on," the Snow Queen ordered imperiously.

The demon bowed again. "Your pardon, my Queen. There is a tale of a looking glass created many millennia ago by one of my kind for his amusement. He gave it to the humans. It made them see things as a poor reflection of what they were. He told them it would show them the truth of the world. The glass made things that were good and true seem insignificant while it magnified the evil of the world out of all proportion. The people thought that they were at last understanding the true nature of the world but it also hardened and chilled their hearts into hopelessness. They were determined to view heaven with it and a flying machine was made to attempt it but as they flew into the heavens, the machine fell apart and the people, along with the glass fell to the earth. The glass broke into a million pieces and they went everywhere, some large enough to be mirrors and some small as a speck of dust. They still exist, scattered about the world. When a person gets such a speck in their eye, their vision is distorted with hopelessness. Woe to the person who has such a speck enter their blood and travel to their heart."

The Snow Queen was growing impatient with this tale. "Enough! Tell me how this helps me with my quest for my consort or I will have you fed to the white bears!"

The demon bowed and begged pardon again. "Oh, most gracious Queen, a human male with such a speck in his heart would be inured against the affects of your icy touch. He could live out his life here with you without repercussions."

The demon did not tell the Queen that the looking glass speck would distort her image so that the man might come to love her, but that is what it was thinking.

The Queen eagerly grasped at this idea. "How do I find such a man?"

"We demons have in our possession, a large piece of the looking glass. I could use such a piece of it to scry for the other pieces of it and find such a man. It may take some time to search through the multitude of fragments in the world for a worthy candidate to be your consort, but I am sure we shall find one."

"Make it so," the Snow Queen ordered.

The demon bowed as she backed out of the chamber. "It shall be as you desire."

*****

Second Story

Diego and Sophia

The demon began the search but hours turned into days and days into weeks. The Snow Queen asked impatiently after it's progress but the answer was always the same, "soon."

Finally, after seven months, the demon found the perfect consort for its queen, a young man living in the heat of the southern half of the world. The man would bring the heat of his world in his veins to the queen's bed.

*****

Diego sat looking out his dorm room window, wondering how his life had come to this. He was a student at the University of Bolivia. He had everything he had ever wanted or needed in his life. His parents loved him very much and had given him everything he ever needed, but in the past year everything good had seemed to turn bad and foul in his mind. The food he ate tasted like dirt and there was neither rest nor happiness in his life.

He glanced around at the drug paraphenalia on his dresser. He had tried everything out there, gradually progressing from marijuana to heroin, crystal meth, mushrooms, extasy. The high of each was so short lived and never came again. It was as if any enjoyment was sucked into a black hole.

His eyes caught the red numbers of the clock on his nightstand.

Shit!

He was late again for a date with his girlfriend, Sophia. She would be very angry. What was the point? They weren't having any fun together anymore. But they had been sweethearts since they were young, growing up together in the town they came from. They used to go into his mother's flower gardens and sit for hours. They had planned for college together and come to this University. Sophia lived in a house across town with other university girls. They were both in their junior year. Diego got up, threw on a pair of jeans and walked out the door to meet her. At least there was still sex.

Diego bought a bouquet of roses from a street vendor on his way to meet Sophia, as an apology for being late and to grease the wheels for what he hoped would be a little fun later on. He jogged through the streets in the humid night, past the houses and business. There were gay flowers everywhere but all Diego could see was the trash and dirt and the homeless man who sat begging in the doorway of an apartment building.

"Spare a coin?" the old man asked pitifully.

Diego sneered as he ran past.

Disgusting, they should clean the city streets up if they want people to do business here.

He arrived hot and out of breath at Sophia's house and rang the doorbell, hiding his less than contrite face behind the flowers.

Sophia opened the door. "Oh, Diego, how beautiful!" She forgave him instantly. Truthfully, she had been more worried about him than angry with him. She took the roses from his hand and buried her face in them, inhaling deeply. "Ouch!" She held up her hand. A thorn had pricked her and a drop of blood squeezed out.

Diego suppressed a laugh. Just like a girl to want something, calling it beautiful, that could bite her so viciously.

It was just a drop. Sophia wiped it on her jeans and turned for the kitchen. "I'll just put these in some water. Where are we going tonight?"

Diego noticed there was no noise in the house for a change. "Are all your roommates out?"

Sophia returned with a vase filled with the flowers and set them on a table in the entryway for all the girls to enjoy as they came and went. "Yes, everyone had a date tonight."

Perfect.

Diego smirked and slid his arms around Sophia from behind. "Why don't we just stay in?" He pressed his lips to her neck and slid his hands up to cup her firm breasts through the fabric of her t-shirt.

"Diego." Sophia reprimanded him softly, squirming out of his grip. "Not in the hallway, one of the girls could come home at any second."

"Okay, okay." Diego rolled his eyes.

Sophia started for the kitchen. "Staying in is fine with me. I can probably find something to cook for dinner."

Diego grabbed her arm and pulled her close. "I'm not really hungry for food right now." He lifted the curtain of her long dark hair with one finger and began to kiss her neck again.

Sophia's eyes fluttered shut. Diego knew just how to touch her to make her feel so alive. They had known each other forever but had become lovers just the year before. His behavior had changed a little recently and she was worried about him but when they were making love, she knew he was right there with her, in the moment.

Sophia took Diego's hand and led him up the stairs to her bedroom. Inside, she closed the door and turned to Diego with a smile, and moved into his arms. She pressed her lips to his and he kissed her back, winding his fingers in her hair to hold her as he kissed her more deeply, thrusting his tongue into her mouth then pulling back to suck and nip at her lips. He slid a hand down to her ass and held her as he thrust his hips against hers.

One hand in her hair and one on her ass, Diego turned her quickly and pushed her down onto the bed with his body. He let go of her hair to reach down and yank the hem of her t-shirt up over her head, forcing her arms up. His mouth went to her neck as he grabbed at her breasts again.

"Diego, take it easy," Sophia scolded with an uneasy chuckle.

Diego either didn't hear or her or didn't care. He took the band of her bra and yanked it up over her breasts. Bending to suck roughly on her left breast, he bit at her nipple.

"Ow!" Sophia pushed Diego away as hard as she could. "Diego! What are you doing?" She grabbed the band of her bra and pulled it down over her breasts.

"Having sex," Diego said, grabbing her and pulling her back against him. "What's the matter? You don't like it anymore?"

Sophia struggled against him but he didn't let go. "Diego! Stop!"

But he didn't stop so she reached down and took hold of his balls and started to squeeze warningly.

That got his attention. He was the one to shove away this time as Sophia released him. "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What do you think

you're

doing? What is wrong with you lately? You're not acting like yourself at all. It's like you're a different person." Sophia was hurt and bewildered. Where had her loving Diego gone?

"I grew up. Maybe you should try it." Diego slammed the door on his way out of the bedroom. He swiped at the vase of roses with a smirk as he passed them in the downstairs hallway and heard them fall to the floor in a crash of glass behind him.

Diego prowled the streets as the sun went down, wreaking havoc wherever he went, and ended up back at his dorm room around midnight. He settled down in front of his open window with a water pipe and watched people returning from dates. Around two o'clock in the morning, the street was silent at last.

He might have felt some regret for the way he had treated Sophia but instead he fueled his own anger, telling himself that she was being an unreasonable bitch. She was a silly little girl. He needed a woman. He closed the window and was about to get up when a curious thing happened.

It had been a warm day but now frost began to form on the window he was looking at. This was not unheard of but it was extremely rare, it had never before happened in his lifetime so he looked at it in wonder. Besides, it was the middle of summer. As he looked out the window, a tiny slow flake fell through the air and another then another. Quickly, the street was covered in snow. It had become very dark out and the lights were muffled with the thick falling snow. He shivered as he watched and wondered if he dreamed.

As he watched, a light appeared in the distance and seemed to grow rapidly larger and closer. An open sled swept down the road and stopped in front of his dormitory. A beautiful woman, her white face with piercing blue eyes and purple lips sat in the sled, wrapped in white furs.

Diego began to feel a warmth steal through his body. Her head turned up and seemed to look right at his window. One arm lifted, she seemed to point and then beckon. Diego couldn't imagine that she was beckoning to him but he couldn't take the chance that she was not. He rushed out of his room, down the hall and flew down the stairs. His heart pounded and he was terrified that she would be gone by the time he was down there. He burst out of the door to find other young men standing in the street surrounding the sled, just staring up in adoration. He pushed forward, shivering.

She looked down at him and lifted the edge of her blanket. "You are cold, Diego, get in and I will warm you."

Diego stepped on the runner and up into the sled. He settled into the furs next to her that she tucked around him. She touched his face and he felt instantly warmer. She reached down and squeezed his cock through his shorts, and he felt warmer still. Her cruel lips curved in a smile and Diego felt dazed. He could only gaze at her in rapt attention as the sled began to move, picking up speed.

"In the morning, the snow will be melted and the other young men will remember nothing of this night, but you and I will be far from here."

*****

Third Story

The Witch

Sophia spent many unhappy days after Diego disappeared. She had gone to his dorm room to try to find out what was wrong and help him but his roommate didn't know where he was. Sophia went day after day. At first she thought Diego was avoiding her but as she talked to more and more of their mutual friends, she found that no one had seen Diego since that night. She went to the police and asked them to look for Diego but she could tell they didn't take it very seriously. He had probably just gone off on his own, there was no sign anyone had hurt him, therefore it wasn't their business.

Sophia wept bitterly each night as she lay in bed, losing sleep every night until she was clearly not herself. Her roommates tried to tempt her to eat but she was so worried over Diego that the food tasted like sand in her mouth. Early one morning, before anyone else was awake, she sat at her window as the sun began to rise.

"Diego is dead and gone," she said to the first sunbeams.

They laughed cheerily. "No, he is not."

She turned to the sparrow, which had lit on the metal rail of the fire escape. "Diego is dead and gone," she said.

The sparrow tilted its head and chirped. "No, he is not."

They were so certain. Sophia thought maybe they might be right. Cheered, she got up and saw her red shoes, which she had so often worn when she went out with Diego, lying on the floor of her open closet. She put them on and went quietly out of the house, walking down to the river.

At the riverbank, she stood and looked up the river and then down. She looked out across the water as it rippled. It was a big river, old and wise.

"Wise, old river, I will give you my red shoes, which I have worn in so many happy times, if you will only tell me where to find Diego?"

The water seemed to ripple and nod in a strange way so Sophia took off her shoes and threw them out into the river, but her throw was weak from lack of sleep and food and the shoes did not go far. The rippling water soon brought them back to her with no news of Diego.

A boat sat next to a wooden dock nearby so Sophia went to it and stepped carefully down in. She pushed away from the dock and was able to row herself out into the current of the river a little ways, where she dropped the shoes overboard and, tired, lay back in the boat amongst the life preservers to wait for news of Diego. Lulled by the rocking of the boat, she slept deeply, as she had not in days.

Sophia woke as the boat jarred to a stop, several hours later, on a sand bar very far downstream in the countryside. She sat up and looked around. It was a very pretty part of the country. Birds flitted amongst the tall old trees that overhung the river. Between them she could see rolling fields sloping down to the river. Cows grazed on the tall green grass.

Sophia thought that where there were cows, there must surely be people to tend them, so she got out of the boat and made her way across the fields, looking for gates that would lead her to a farm house. At last, she found a pretty little cottage with a thatched roof and a cherry orchard.

As she walked towards the house, a beautiful young woman wearing a bright red dress and a large brimmed straw hat with cherries on it stepped out of the cottage door and turned to latch it, as if she were going out.

"Excuse me," Sophia said softly.

Even so, the other young woman jumped. She turned quickly and let out a musical little laugh. "Oh, my dear, you quite scared me." She looked Sophia over. "You look quite done in, you must come in and rest yourself. My errand can wait."

She took Sophia by the hand and led her into the cottage and closed the door behind them.

She sat Sophia down at the kitchen table and poured her a refreshing drink and offered her a bowl of cherries and cream then took off her hat and sat down with her.

The cherries were delicious and Sophia found she was famished for the first time in days.

The other young woman laughed delightedly to see Sophia eat so enthusiastically. "But what brings you so far out into the countryside? There are no other houses around here for some ways. I live here quite alone since my parents passed away. I am the town witch. They pay me well and need me but they cannot abide me living in their midst."

Sophia swallowed and wiped her mouth, suddenly a little self-conscious to be gobbling down this beautiful and powerful woman's food like a starving street urchin. She smoothed her own hair back and realized she must look a fright.

"I was looking for my boyfriend, Diego. He disappeared about a week ago and no one has heard from him since. I don't suppose he came this way?"

The other woman shook her head sadly. She reached out and smoothed Sophia's hair back. "You poor dear, you've clearly had a time of it. No, I haven't seen him. But you must stop and rest for a bit with me before you go on."

Just rested enough to be properly tired after her boat ride and country walk, Sophia was also sated by a stomach full of cherries and cream. Her only thought was how lovely it felt to have this woman's hand stroking her hair.

"My name is Sophia. What is your name?" she asked the beautiful young woman.

"My name is Brula. Now, you just finish your cherries and I will go draw you a bath. We will get you cleaned up and into fresh clothes so you are more comfortable."

Brula left but was back in a few minutes. She took Sophia by the hand and led her down a hallway to a modern looking bathroom where a steaming bubble bath waited. Sophia was amazed. The house seemed much bigger inside than it did from the outside and she never would have expected a modern bathtub, but she didn't want to be rude so she didn't say anything.

Brula began unbuttoning Sophia's blouse and it seemed the most natural thing in the world for Sophia to let her. Sophia stood still as Brula gently undressed her, caressing her as she went.

"There now, into the water," Brula said softly. Brula steadied Sophia as she stepped into the tub and sank into the bubbles. Then Brula took up a sponge and began to gently stroke Sophia's flesh with it, dipping it into the water and letting it stream over her shoulders.