[Nano novel] Preface: In the dragon's eyrie.

The quill scratching across the parchment echoed weirdly in the dark, deep cave.  At the entrance of the cave, just within its stony ridge, sat a hooded figure.  His fingers shook as he wrote, perhaps with the cold, perhaps with emotion too long held inside.  His small candle guttered and threatened to go out as a chill wind whistled past the mountainside cave.

A dragon's eyrie is not a place where humans ever tread, and yet here sat a man, seemingly unafraid of his surroundings, concentrating solely on the business of slowly writing.  He did not appear to have much experience with a quill and ink pot, for his characters were formed laboriously slowly, and many drips and blots adorned the yellow surface of the page.  He bent even lower, making his letters as carefully as he could.

Ava,
I do not know if this letter will ever reach you.
I have only this sheet of parchment left, and too
many words will fill it up too quickly to finish
what thoughts I mean to convey. I am trying
to find the end of the rainbow, but I have lost
my guide and my compass. I am wandering
alone, and I fear I have failed.
Please remember me. I love you... loved you.
Taliesin

With that last sentence, the letters were somewhat blurred with teardrops.  He did not mean for them to fall - he had to blow on the paper quickly and cursed himself, under his breath, for marring the page further.  After it was dry, he sat in thought, his hood drawn close around his face.  He sat for so long that he seemed to be asleep; but then he roused himself, rolled the letter carefully up, and tucked it into an inner pocket.

Apparently satisfied that his task was finished, he blew out his candle, put it carefully next to his very small pack, and wrapped himself in the single blanket that he had. 

He dreamed of rainbows, of dragons, and of a red-haired girl who reached out for him, called his name, but whom he could never quite reach.  He was restless in sleep, and moaned softly more than once.  The night stretched on as if it would never end.