The Snow Women

It was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1971 (although Leiber withdrew it in favor of "Ill Met in Lankhmar"),[1] and finished second in the annual Locus poll for short fiction.

[2] First published in 1970 in Fantastic magazine, it's in the nature of a prequel, as Leiber had by that time been chronicling the pair's adventures for thirty years.

Fafhrd an eighteen-year-old youth[3]: 7  rescues Vlana, a dancer, from the frozen snowballs of the Snow Clan women, who are led by his own mother.

Fafhrd, who dreams of learning more about civilization,[3]: 25  warns Vlana of a plot by a male member of the clan, Hringorl, to kidnap her.

Vlana agrees but leaves with Vellix and runs into an ambush where she is saved by Fafhrd for a second time.

"The Snow Women" was originally published in the April 1970 issue of Fantastic , under a cover painted by Jeff Jones