But one Dragon among their number hated the eggs, and her name was Yendil. Yendil was jealous of the eggs and their power. Especially she hated, and yet desired, the essence of flame that shone in the first egg. The other Dragons spoke of how the flame would burn and twist everything before it, and yet when it had destroyed all it had touched, it would bring also the gift of life, turning destruction into rebirth. And Yendil desired this power, and she coveted the egg that held the essence of fire, and she desired to control the flame for herself.
Yet with all the Dragons protecting the eggs, and weaving threads of Fate about them to protect them, Yendil could not destroy any of them, nor could she affect more than one. But by bending all her thought and intent, and weaving every string of Fate at her command, Yendil stole one of the eggs. She took it when the Dragons were bowed in worship of them, and she fled with the egg clutched in her claws, and it was the egg that held the essence of flame.
Then the Dragons wailed and gnashed their teeth, and those who had been set to guard the eggs quaked in fear, and the other Dragons fell upon them, and they were devoured. And then the Dragons who remained saw that Yendil was missing from their number, and they knew it was she who had stolen the egg that held the essence of fire. And they searched all of existence for the missing egg, and they never tired in their hunt.
But Yendil hid herself from them, and she entwined her own threads of Fate with those that had been used to protect the egg, so that the same woven Fate that protected the egg from destruction also protected it from discovery. And she entwined the weave of her own Fate with the egg that held the fire essence, so that she could not be destroyed unless the egg itself was also destroyed.
Thus Yendil hid with her stolen egg, until all the five eggs hatched on the same day. And then for five years more she hid, keeping prisoner the fire dragon that had emerged from the egg. And she forced it to use its flames to burn everything Yendil hated, which was everything in Creation, which at that time was all iron and steel, lifeless and hard. And the dragon’s flame spread, and it melted the world, and the sky knew that the flame dragon had been born from the egg. And the Dragons knew it as well, but still they could not find the missing whelp, for they could not find Yendil through the shroud of her Fate.
As the flame dragon grew older, he was always in misery and in pain, for Yendil was a terrible taskmaster. Yendil named him Meldin, and he was her slave, and she made him use his flame over and over again, though Meldin wept to destroy the beautiful landscapes of Creation that lay before his sight.
At last, after five years, all the dragons were grown. And the four dragons who remained free gathered to each other. The dragon of the second egg was called Harish, and the essence of water was hers. And the dragon of the third egg was called Yorprax, and the essence of earth was his. And the dragon of the fourth egg was called Yarlos, and the essence of wind was his. But the dragon of the fifth egg had no name, for she would not claim one until her brother was found, and the essence of love was hers.
As they gathered together, Harish said to them, “Now we are grown, and we are ready to bring life to all of Creation beneath the sky.”
And Yorprax said to them, “But we cannot, for still our brother is missing, and without his flame we cannot give life to all the things that will fly and crawl and swim.”
And Yarlos said to them, “Then let us go and find our brother, for we who are his kin shall find him no matter where Yendil may hide him.”
But the fifth dragon said nothing, and only wept for Meldin, for in her was the essence of love and that is a cousin to grief.
The four dragons thus set out into the world, and they could sense Meldin through all the weave of Fate that Yendil had wrapped about him. For the Fate that bound the five of them was stronger, and had connected them since first they were laid, and Yendil could not hide it from their sight. And the four young dragons found themselves at a mouth of a cave, and they knew it held their brother, as well as his captor, and so they entered it.
There they found Yendil lurking, and she was ready to meet them, for she had heard their approach. And there, too, they found Meldin, and he was trapped in a cage all of starsteel, the strongest of metals, and his flame could not melt it.
“Turn and flee,” said Yendil. “This young one is mine, and his gift of flame also.”
And Yarlos said to her, “He belongs to no one, unless it is to us by the bonds of the nest.”
And Yorprax said to her, “You cannot hide him from us, nor can you keep him from us.”
And Harish said to her, “We shall not flee from you, nor can you escape our wrath.”
But the fifth dragon said nothing, and her grief had turned hot and furious, for in her was love and that is a cousin to wrath.
And Harish, Yorprax, and Yarlos did battle with Yendil. But they were not strong enough to defeat her, for they were still young and untested, and Yendil was ancient and large and cunning. And they thought they would fall before Yendil, and she would slay them, and devour them, taking their
