Fortified by a good night's rest and with his minor wounds from the fight with the troll healing fast, Broneslav set out once more and soon found himself in hilly ground. The going was easier here, and he decided to skirt the jungle that he had originally traversed. The hills offered fewer biting insects for starters!
On the second day of travelling through the hills, he marvelled at the sight of a herd of giant sheep. Each was the size of a pony. Suddenly, a large rock slammed into him. The impact was accompanied by a roaring yell. Broneslav had been so completely absorbed in the sight of the sheep that he had not realised that a giant, aggressive shepherd was guarding them. The shepherd was nearly 20 feet tall and not much further than that away. How Broneslav had missed seeing the one-eyed giant was a question for another day. As Broneslav took in the appearance of the cyclops, the shepherd picked up a huge club and advanced on the young warrior.
Broneslav did not hesitate. He drew his sword and charged. Unfortunately for him, the shock of the sudden attack had put him off his stride and he only managed a minor wound to the giant, whose club slammed into his side breaking several ribs. Broneslav gritted his teeth and sliced a huge cut into its leg only to be knocked flat by another heavy blow that sent him flying.
The young hero was not a quitter, so he picked himself up and charged again. His blow landed true and the cyclops howled in pain as blood gouted from another huge cut. Broneslav ducked under the cyclops' next blow and struck again, causing another wound but was too slow to dodge again and found himself flat on his back once more due to yet another painful blow from the creature's club.
Picking himself up yet again, he ducked around the cyclops and slashed its achilles tendon, causing it to fall with an earthshaking thud, and then he plunged his sword into its now reachable heart.
"Shit! That hurt! And I wasn't even doing anything I shouldn't have. Damn chaos creatures!"
Broneslav cursed as he bandaged his wounds and searched the nearby cave where the cyclops had its home. For an uncivilised chaos creature, the cyclops had gathered a respectable amount of treasure, although the young warrior did wonder how it had done so and where it would use that treasure. Or maybe it was just that the gold and gems were shiny, so the creature gathered them for that reason.
That done, he carried on. There was still daylight and he did not want to rest where another cyclops might come by. That single one had been a painful enough encounter on its own so he camped as far from its cave as he could that night.
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