Ah, thought Robena. The soothsayer was right. This was how she was doomed to die: beneath the trampling hooves of her own horse.

(It had been less of a prediction, to be fair, and more of an angry 'That bloody horse will be the death of you'. It had been given when Robena had returned from a three day expedition to recover Apricot who, upon feeling a pang of homesickness, had broken the stable restraints and walked back north, only to be waylaid by a cunningly placed apple orchard.)

Well, such were the wages of sin. This was the justice of the Almighty made manifest in this world. Now she had to confront the vice of gluttony directly and take a stand for the righteous.

A coil of rope is in her hand as she dives to the side. Instincts honed from many long hours of observing this horse's manner and habits let her predict the skitter and turn and cast the lasso about his neck. As she applies her strength against the colossal bulk of her sinful mount and his unwilling passenger. He bucks! Oh, Constance, you will be hard pressed to stay on the back of this horse as he struggles against his master. The struggle is great, the stuff of songs, the strength of giants in opposition - heaven and hell wage war, and poor mankind is caught between them! 

But Apricot slows in the end. Although he was blinded by greed, in his heart he knows better - and he knows better than to truly throw Constance. He slows down to a stomping stand-still, facing the determination in Robena's eyes, snorts miserably, and then feigns losing interest and lowers his head to eat the road-side grass. Robena then offers the prize to its rightful owner who bites it gratefully, and then comes across to help a shaking Constance down from Apricot's back. Her arms are strong and her biceps shine with sweat from her exertions against her horse, and she lifts the girl effortlessly.

[Undertake great labour: [b]14[/b]. I do it, and make it look easy.]

"As I am a knight who fights for justice," she said to the merchant, holding Constance in her arms, "I shall rescue your cat."