Vex spurred her horse onward, risking a backward glance, her hair wind- whipped across her face. Three riders; coming up quicker than she'd like. Turning to face ahead gain, she gripped the reins and leaned in lower over her mounts neck as another spell sizzled past, leaving the hot reek of energy in its wake.
The road was rough, fall rains having turned it to mud for weeks, easily victimized before drying by the wheels of heavy carts and horse shoes that came after. Footing was treacherous and some of the turns coming up were tight. It made her a difficult target but it also meant she needed to keep her attention on her escape.
If they got any closer, she might have to consider going off road. It was that or ditch her take. Assuming that would even stop them. The sack of coins and gems tied at her belt would be an awful loss and one the best infiltrator in the Thieves Guild wasn't ready to make. And there was the sealed scroll tucked inside her jacket…Which was apparently worth some trouble, if her pursuers were any indication.
Dark robes flying, the Thalmor Justiciar who'd started on her trail just outside of Whiterun kicked his horse harder and began gaining.
Well, Vex thought, it served her right didn't it? She had known the risk and done it anyway.
On the way down from Dragonsreach, having snuck into the court mages quarters to lift a certain item for one of Delvin's buyers, she had stopped for dinner and a drink at the tavern before the long ride back. She'd been perfectly happy minding her own business when those snobs had walked in.
Oblivious to the glares directed at them from the local patrons, they had ordered their food and wine. They'd been rude. One had threatened the serving girl. Vex had felt rage rise to choke her as she'd watched thru narrowed eyes, her face a mask of disinterest.
So on her way out, when she had run into the last of their little group hanging around the stables guarding their horses, well, it was an opportunity to humble the bigoted idiots.
The shadows had been in her favor as she had helped herself to the contents of their saddle bags.
But apparently, it had been noticed sooner than she would have hoped.
Another spell shot past, startling the horse. Three against one weren't great odds to begin with but with at least one mage involved, the scales were tipped decidedly in her pursuers favor. She needed to change that. She needed to disappear.
Scowling, Vex tugged the reins and the horse obliged, turning to plunge off the road and into the underbrush. The terrain might help her lose them, or at least find a defensible spot to weed them out. There was no way she was leading them back to Riften.
It was time for her to demonstrate to her followers the real art of being a thief; the getaway.