4 Sviftmont - In the Land of the Big Lizards

 The following morning, the triceratops lumbered off. Broneslav tidied up and sorted out his possessions which the massive beast had nosed through. Fortunately, nothing important was broken, and he was soon on his way into the hills and towards his goal. The journey through the hills was easier than through the mountains, and he made good time, while avoiding unfortunate encounters with local wildlife.

As he camped for the first night in the jungle beyond the hills, the sound of crushed undergrowth woke Broneslav. He readied himself in the cover of a tree and watched as a lumbering beast three times the height of a tall man pushed past near his camp. It was a remarkable creature, walking on two legs but having a bill like a duck. He marvelled at it as it disappeared once more into the night, obviously unaware that he was there.

"A True and Accurate Representation of a Duck-Billed Giant Lizard" from the journals of Broneslav Torenescu, Merchant Adventurer*

The next day, Broneslav marched on through the jungle, cursing the large, bloodsucking flies that seemed to be everywhere. Distracted by them, he did not see the massive, sail-backed lizard that bore down on him and only barely managed to avoid getting swallowed whole. As it was, he scored a tiny cut in the beast's flesh as it bit at him and he only just got his arm out of its mouth before it took it off. It was lucky that he had such good armour! With his scattered wits gathered, he focused better on the fight and was able to block the creature's bites with his shield, while simultaneously cutting hard at its neck. Several hard blows saw its head fly from its body.

He leapt back to avoid the spray of blood and looked around for more of the creature. Luckily, this was a lone beast that had fancied a snack, and not a hunting pack of them. Broneslav bandaged his wounds and carried on.

* Historical life restoration of Edmontosaurus annectens (referred to as “Trachodon mirabilis” in the original figure caption): William H. Ballou: Strange Creatures of the Past – Gigantic Saurians of the Reptilian Age. Century Magazine 55(1):15–24 (1897)