The Snow Queen's Shadow

brushed her hands together, dusting the last of the shattered glass into the water. Blood welled from tiny cuts on her palms, but her skin healed even as she whispered a new spell.
    As screams broke out from the other ships, courtesy of Perin, Snow’s fragments rose from the water on wings of ice. This swarm was larger than the others Snow had created. With a wave of her hand, Snow sent her creations forth. They skimmed the waves toward the approaching ships.
    Halfway there, the fog coalesced around her wasps. One by one, the magic holding them together began to unravel.
    “Not bad,” Snow said. Behind her, men raced to load the cannons. She concentrated, and the rest of her wasps plunged into the water where the fog couldn’t reach them. They emerged again beyond the fog, and the shouts grew louder.
    Most of her wasps were destroyed. She felt each death as fire magic melted her creatures, or gusts of wind smashed them to the deck, but it took only one, its wings shriveled away but its body intact, to crawl up a man’s boot and lodge its stinger in his leg. Only one crewman to truly see the world’s ugliness, and to turn against his fellows.
    She pulled a second shard from her pouch and released another swarm. This time there was less resistance. She sensed Perin’s sudden agony as he fell, wrapped in magical fire, but he had served his purpose. By the time the Snow Queen drifted into cannon range, there was little need for guns. She fired a broadside anyway, and holes exploded in the hull of the nearest ship.
    Answering fire came not from the two Allesandrian ships, but from a third vessel sailing from the harbor. She approached quickly, wind filling her sails as she leaped forward to meet the Snow Queen . Even through the fading fog, Snow recognized the Phillipa .
    The Phillipa approached at an angle, all of her port guns firing. The Snow Queen trembled as cannonballs tore through the hull. Captain Hephyra had never been one to turn from a fight.
    The Snow Queen turned to port, but she was too slow to catch the Phillipa . Snow pulled the last of her wasps from the Allesandrian ships, sending them toward the Phillipa. They swarmed over Hephyra, who stood unflinching at the wheel. Hephyra’s cudgel smashed several from the air, but others landed on her bare face and arms.
    Snow blinked in surprise. The stingers wouldn’t penetrate Hephyra’s skin. She watched through the splinters of glass as Hephyra crushed another wasp with her bare hand.
    Her wasps couldn’t take Hephyra, and Snow wasn’t entirely certain how well they would be able to turn the Phillipa ’s crew against its captain. The dryad’s fairy allure was almost as potent as Snow’s own magic.
    “Very well.” Snow’s wasps had taken the weather mages on the Allesandrian ships. In response to Snow’s thoughts, the wind picked up, turning the Snow Queen about and launching her after the Phillipa .
    As they closed, Snow climbed onto the rail and stepped out, summoning a cushion of air to lower her to the water. The sea froze beneath her feet. Waves broke against the ice, splashing her boots and legs as she walked. She smiled, casting yet another spell. The water hardened, forming armor of gleaming ice that encased her legs and moved higher.
    So much power at her command. A week ago, simply fighting the fog sent by the Allesandrian weather wizard would have left her head throbbing from pain. Today, there were no limits to what she might do.
    She allowed the Snow Queen to veer away. Shouts broke out on the Phillipa as someone spied her in the water.
    Ice spread to cover her face. She concentrated, keeping the front of her helm as pure and clear as possible. Only the slightest ripple distorted her vision. Her heart slowed, each beat pounding harder, as if her blood itself were turning to ice. She turned her head, testing the armor. Ice scraped against ice, cracking and refreezing to allow her to move.
    A crossbow bolt splashed into the water beside her. A second struck her stomach, gouging a chip from the armor. She brushed a gauntleted hand over the chip, and an instant later no sign of damage remained. A magical attack followed, but her armor deflected that as well.
    Her wasps had stung only a few men on the Phillipa , but it was enough. She reached out to adjust the vision of the closest. She peered through his eyes until she spotted two men in Allesandrian uniforms, working to prepare another spell. Her slave killed them both before they