Myth-ion Improbable by Robert Lynn Asprin

In the pastures along both sides of the road animals were grazing. When I finally had to stop to rest, a number of the grazing animals looked up at us, big eyes glowing in the moonlight. They almost looked surprised to see us.

“Cows,” Tanda said, pointing at the large creatures staring at us from the field.

They looked fat and heavy, with white and dark areas over their bodies. In the half-darkness, they seemed almost sinister with their big eyes and long ears.

“So how come they aren’t inside like everything else?” I asked as Tanda gave me more water and a little bit of a snack to eat.

“You’re asking me?” she said. “Maybe they’re not bothered by whatever worries the people around here.”

That made sense, in an odd sort of way.

“Maybe they are what worries the residents,” I said, staring into the deep pits of eyes of the closest cow.

Both Aahz and Tanda laughed as if that was the funniest thing I had ever said.

I didn’t see what was so funny. Cows looked nasty to me, and I couldn’t imagine trying to get milk, golden or not, from any of the ones I could see.

By the time I was rested enough to get us farther down the road, a bunch of the nearby cows had sauntered over and were gathering near the road watching what we were doing. It was creepy, and I was glad to get on the way.

From that point onward there were cattle along the road watching us, as if something had told them we were coming. When I asked Aahz what made them do that, he said he didn’t know. He’d never seen cattle act that way.