The bosmer girl ran raggedly through the marshland, each descent of her bare and battered feet producing a faint squelch on the soft, mossy and water ridden earth below. Yet more dirt painted itself onto her as she tripped once again, falling straight into a pool of water and sinking deep into the thick, slimy silt beneath. Spluttering and desperate, the girl re-emerged from the icy liquid, floundering for a moment as she found her way back to her feet before disappearing off in to the thick fog. Voices rang out in the cold air back in the direction she'd come from, sopping with mockery and malice.

"Here girlie girlie girlie." Called the first, deep, harsh and husky male. "Don't'cha worry lass. We 'ent gunna hurt'cha." He jeered catapulting an arrow off at random into the fog. He was quickly reprimanded.

"Oy. Don't do that! you'll 'urt the merchandise. How're we gunna sell her with a bleedin' arrow wound in 'er back eh?" Said a second man in a firm growl.

"Oh relax." Replied the first slaver casually. "She's exotic, wot with all them tattoo's an' that. She'll sell for a pretty penny regardless of cuts, bruises n' screamin' murder at the buyers. They know 'ow to break people good they do. Might even give 'er a test run myself before the sell. Start their work for them. Besides it's no fun if she ent a little frightened." He said with a chortle as the pair emerged by the pool their prey had just passed through.

The pair were ornately dressed to a standard that seemed completely at odds with their environment and their accents. The two rode atop midnight black horses at a casual pace, slowing to pass around particularly prominent puddles and to duck under the occasional tree branch. The shorter, pudgier of the two looked to the other man, who was a comparative beanpole, as he awaited a reply. He tugged slightly on his mauve, silken jacket collar to correct a perceived imperfection caused by the motion of firing his chunky crossbow. The taller man sighed and said nothing to argue against his chubby acquaintance who took that inaction as agreement and proceeded to wind another bolt into the bow.

"C'mon lassie!" He called into the fog. "Come 'ere and we'll treat you proper. Get'cha to a place with a soft bed and plenty o' men to keep ya warm at night. 'Ow about that huh? Gotta be better than traipsing alone through this dump." He said firing another arrow blindly off into the fog. Moments later there was a cry of surprise and a splash as something stumbled in the marshland.

"You better not 'ave hit her you miserable dog!" The taller man yelled at his clumsy acquaintance before breaking his horse into a canter. "Now we gotta catch up before she drowns."

Ahead of the duo the panicked girl had broken into a sprint, the previous shot had passed far too closely for comfort, almost stroking her ankle as it passed. Behind her she could hear the cursing of her pursuers and the seemingly gruesome noises of the horses as they made their way through the soggy ground at high speed. She ran as fast as she possibly could, pausing only to brush the hair which stuck to her seemingly like glue from her eyes. Suddenly the relative flat of the marshland gave way to a steep incline and a patch of trees. She stumbled up the hill with the two horses close behind now.

"We'll net 'er when she reaches the bay!" One of them cried and then, as suddenly as the incline had become the girl found herself on a steep descent with the thick, obscuring fog lifted. Tired and unable to keep up with the sudden change in terrain the Bosmer tumbled roughly down the hill only to stop on a patch of rocks hard. She groaned and looked around, on her left was the hill she had fallen down although, now she looked at it she realised it was less a hill and more a short cliff. She had been lucky. Groaning and now too tired and battered to run the tattooed girl ambled along the beach almost waiting for her pursuers to catch up. It didn't take long. 

"Hey! I see her!" Shouted the chubby slaver excitedly as his horse galloped up behind her. He switched his bow for a mace and set to run her down with a wicked grin on his face. The girl turned to face his charge wearily and waited as though accepting her fate only to, at the last possible moment, leap gracefully forwards and dismount him. She yanked hard at his wrist whilst placing a painfully effective open palm strike just below his collarbone. The man tumbled from his horse and landed on the gravelly sand with a crunch, moaning and shrieking curses like there was no tomorrow. The girl too yelped as she twisted her ankle on the landing and fell to the ground a couple of metres away. For the first time since the chase had started the taller man smiled. 

"I think you're right Alfie. This one will fetch a pretty penny." He said staring mercilessly down into the face of the clearly terrified girl.