In the small town of Buttermilk, once every year, the King held a festival. People from all over the realm travelled to compete for money by submitting their biggest animals. This festival was due to start in a few hours.
The past few days, Buttermilk had been filled with Travellers and travelling merchants. A section of farmland close to the city was turned into a stage area, for a large performance taking place at sunset. The magical acrobats and talented bands from the main cities far north of the Castle of Flowers were here to give five days of shows. Bards and illusion casters were everywhere.
There were many Knights present, to keep the people protected from bandit attacks. Jason and Stella were walking hand in hand to the show, to buy some dinner and maybe try some exotic ales.
Redran, Arkanon and Freya stood in a tent with fifteen guards. Redran was talking about defensive patrols to the men. The king was busy making appearances at the festival mainstage.
Battuk and his army waited in the hills south of the city. They waited for darkness, and they all silently hid behind the trees and foliage of the farmlands nearby.
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The biggest cow in the realm, a female heifer named ‘Chunky’, was standing in a long stable, next to other, slightly smaller cows. Her horns were capped with silver. Chunky was clearly the biggest cow. She was fed six buckets of peaches, and six buckets of pears every day. The farmer she belonged to was a peach and pear farmer, not a cattle farmer. Chunky also loved eating cabbages, and apples, and broccoli and grass, and carrots, and small sticks, and weeds. Sometimes, Chunky ate celery, corn, onions, beets, sugarcane and even cakes and sweets. Chunky was an old girl, maybe five, maybe seven years old. Chunky was at her peak.
Chunky pushed against the door and it creaked against her weight.
Chunky was such a clever girl, She could topple most fences just by running fast. Chunky was smarter than most dumb humans, you see. And chunky had goosebumps. She could sense danger, and she wanted to run. All of the cows wanted to run.
Chunky ran against the door and the hinges simply failed. The sturdy wooden stable door toppled to the ground and Chunky stomped right over it. Two stablehands tried to stop the panicked beast but Chunky ran towards the open stable door and into the crowd. She was frightened by the large amount of townspeople, so she bolted for the safety of the dark road. No one wanted to stop the huge cow. Chunky was free. She ran into a nearby field of apple trees and sprinted. She stopped to taste an Apple and wanted to stay, but she was scared. Chunky sprinted away into the dark forest surrounding the north road out of Buttermilk.