That was something she could understand. Hadn't she lost one kind of life to begin another? And, she suddenly realised, that compromise had been forced on her by the same bad things that these men were fighting.
It wasn't long before they stopped for the night. Visibility was becoming tenuous at best, and they were not about to risk unnecessary injury from stumbling around in the dark, or discovery by risking illumination. They bivouacked quickly, and with as little noise as possible, set up an ambush to the rear in case they had been followed.
Anest had whispered to Lily that there was to be no talking while they ate and slept. Not until they were under way the next day. She nodded unhappily when he told her. Later, when they were comfortably rolled in a blanket, she realised that they couldn't make love, either. But she tried her best not to cry herself to sleep.
She was groggy with sleep when she was roughly wakened from some unpleasant dream. Anest whispered in her ear, his hand on her face to reassure her, "Don't make a sound. We've got to go. Now." Stumbling in the blackness, she stood feeling out of place and useless as Anest packed their gear and drew her hastily onto their mount. Dawn must not have been far away, because there was more visibility than when they went to sleep. When Belloc and Brogan were satisfied that all was ready, Belloc nodded, and Brogan signalled the company to begin. They took a path parallel to the road through the light undergrowth to muffle the sound of the horses' feet. When they could proceed no further in this manner, they hit the road at a hard gallop. It wasn't until some of the weaker horses were winded that they slowed to a canter once more. They had entered a convoluted region of knolls of rock that greatly reduced their ability to detect anything that could be waiting for them.