[ OT ] Writing Workshop # 50 : Conflict - Man vs. Man

My dearest Carolyn, I have resigned myself to the knowledge that my eyes shall never gaze upon your sweet, sweet face again. Still, I write these words in the hope to stave off the madness that has begun to creep into my mind and my life. 
 
 I am marooned now these past three months. The *St. Agnes* having foundered in a tempest on our return voyage. 
 
 The island refuge on which i found myself washed up upon is harsh, barely providing for my needs, especially the one above all others. Rescue. There is a neighboring island, too far to swim and too close for comfort for it is inhabited by a tribe of people with whom I am unfamiliar. I know this because they have come here, to my island prison, to investigate the signal fires I managed to light. 
 
 I approached them on their first landing and was immediately set upon most violently. It is my guess that my presence here is an affront to them or a challenge in some manner. Since then they have made it a ritual to travel here periodically and attempt to track me down. Always a single warrior. 
 
 I have come to know this island well and have become quite adept at evading them but they are skilled and have managed to subdue me on two occasions past. But they have not killed me. Only blooded their weapon and taken a token, a lock of hair ripped from my scalp or a tatter of clothes ripped from my back. Perhaps I am a game to them now or a rite of passage much like the counting coup of the Plains Indians of the Americas. 
 
 I have always feared for my life during these travails but now I fear my end is a certainty. The last to come was young, considered a child in our world. I am tired and weak and he easily bested me but there was an accident. I killed him. It matters not how, only that the circumstances were beyond either of our control and now he lies dead at the bottom of a ravin. I fear when his people come looking for him, I will pay the ultimate price. 
 
 I could take his boat but there is naught for me to go save the other island. The Lion's Den as it were. 
 
 My darling Caroline, I have many regrets in my life as all men do but my biggest is never to see you again and give you peace as to my fate. I must go, there are boats coming from the island, my destiny is at hand. 
 
 Your loving fiance, Charles Norring.
