The Frost-Giant's Daughter

"The Frost-Giant's Daughter" (a.k.a. "Gods of the North") is a Conan the Barbarian story written by Robert E Howard.

It features a younger Conan than in any other story; while he has left Cimmeria, he is still in the Grim Up North. After a battle in which he is the sole survivor, a mysterious, lightly clad woman appears and lures him over the snows until she reaches two giants, her brothers, whom she calls on to kill him. Conan kills them and goes after the woman, who escapes leaving her only garment in Conan's hand and calls on her father Ymir, who wisks her away. Other friends of Conan track him down, wondering why he left the battlefield, and at first disbelieve his story, but one of them had actually seen the woman, and he still has her garment.

Written in 1932, but not published. A version modified by Howard appeared in March, 1934. A version modified by L Sprague De Camp appeared in 1953. The original version was first published in 1976.

Tropes included

 * The Bait: Atali does this to Conan
 * Call On Me: Atali on her father
 * Disability Immunity: Grom had seen Atali and survived because of the severity of his wounds, which prevented him from following her.
 * Giving Them the Strip: How Atali gets away
 * An Ice Person: Atali, also her father
 * Or Was It a Dream: at the end
 * Our Giants Are Bigger: Atali's brothers
 * Physical God: Ymir
 * You Imagined It: at the end