Lady Cinder's army had set up camp miles away from Fort Luna so that the lookouts wouldn't be able to spot it. It was quite the distance to travel, but it allowed them to rest before they attacked. The encampment was large and made up of a field of black and red striped tents, the colours of Lady Cinder's crest. Each tent housed several soldiers, five or six civilians, or a single knight.
Velvet and Dame Blake were taken to a tent near the centre of the camp where they were stripped of their armour, had their arms chained behind their backs, and then were chained together. Once they were restrained two guards were posted outside of the tent.
Outside Sir Mercury walked with the baroness, "Lady Cinder, why did we take those knights captive? Their castle was destroyed, who can we ransom them to?"
"You didn't see their crest then. It wasn't the Luna crest, it was a royal one. They happen to be some of the king's knights." She informed him with a wicked smile on her face, "We can ask for a ransom well above what these two are worth."
"Would you like me to send a messenger?"
"Yes, send two, one to King Ozpin asking for… forty pounds, and the other to Queen Salem asking for orders."
"Yes ma'am." Sir Mercury replied before running off to complete this task.
Lady Cinder walked into Velvet and Dame Blake's tent, "So, what were two of the kings knights doing posted at Fort Luna?" she asked them, but her question was met with absolute silence.
"Fine, don't tell me, but know my men are dying for a chance to avenge some of their fallen allies. How many did you two take out? Twenty, thirty men? If you two aren't cooperative maybe I might lessen your guard."
This threat got to Velvet, but Blake still seemed calm and collected which was enough to keep them both quiet. "Fine, have it your way." Lady Cinder replied venomously while she walked out and dismissed one of their guards.
"Don't worry Velvet, she can't afford for us to be killed, we're worth too much to them." Blake whispered to Velvet.
"Blake, you are worth money to them, what happens when they find out I'm not a knight?" Velvet replied referring to Blake informally like she used to. This tripped several alarms in her head, Velvet kept it formal in the middle of the most stressful and dangerous situations, but now Velvet was so scared that she had forgotten.
"Velvet, don't worry we're far away from the castle it'll take a long time for even a bird to make the trip there and back, and you heard them as well as I did, they sent a messenger. We'll have enough time to figure out how to escape before they come back." Blake assured her.
Velvet took a deep breath, "Thank you ma'am." She replied having calmed down a bit.
Dame Blake looked around the tent trying to find something to help them break free of their restraints. Unfortunately the tent was bare, there wasn't even a rock in the grass. "Damnit" she thought making sure not to show Velvet that she couldn't think of anything. She went deep into thought trying to find a solution, even attempting to think of a way she could use the grass.
Before she could think of anything she was ripped from her thoughts by a soldier stepping into the tent saying, "Not so tough now are you."
Blake held her tongue doing her best not to antagonize the soldier, but in the end it wouldn't have made a difference. He stepped forward and swiftly kicked Velvet in the side. "Hey! Stay away from her!" Blake announced squirming to try to help Velvet.
"Orders are to keep you two alive, not unharmed." He told them with venom in his voice.
Velvet did her best to move away from him while keeping her legs pulled up against her chest defensively. Despite her best efforts she couldn't get far enough away to avoid the soldier's beating.
"Take off these damn shackles and fight me like a man!" Blake cried out.
"Do you think I'm an idiot? Fight a knight one on one?"
"Where is your chivalry!?"
"It died along with my allies in that fort!" He exclaimed kicking Blake this time.
The soldier wound up for another kick but before he let it go he was stopped, "Enough!" a voice called out from behind him.
"You are bringing shame upon this entire battalion! These two are unarmed captives, no respectable soldier should bring them harm!" They told him.
"It won't happen again Dame Coco." The soldier replied before promptly leaving.
Despite Coco being their saviour Blake glared at her, "Who are you to talk about being a respectable soldier? You slaughtered our soldiers after they had surrendered!"
Coco sighed ashamed of her past actions, "I know what I did, but those… those were our orders. If I didn't do it someone else would've and they wouldn't have done it so quickly."
"Yeah that makes everything better, you and your battalion slaughtered almost everyone in that castle! Some of them were my friends and the rest were trusted allies!" Blake exclaimed seeing Dame Coco as a monster.
"You aren't completely innocent yourself, you two killed thirty men. I trained with those men and women! They were close to me!"
"You attacked us!"
"You're a knight! You know that if I don't follow orders me and maybe even my men will be executed!"
"That doesn't mean you ca-" Blake started before she was cut off.
"Stop it!" Velvet exclaimed sick of their fighting, "This is a war. We are trained and made to kill other faunus and humans, and in order to make it okay we are made to believe the enemy is less than human, but they are people too. In the end all we do is protect our friends by killings other people's."
This sudden explanation killed the hostility between Dame Blake and Dame Coco. With a sigh Blake said, "Thank you for helping us."
"After what we did at the fort it's the least I can do." She replied. "I'll have a talk with Lady Cinder and see if I can have some more guards posted so that this doesn't happen again."
"She was the one who decreased the guard, I doubt she'll increase it again." Blake informed her.
"I'll still see what I can do. I have at least some sway in this battalion." Coco told them before leaving.
Now that Velvet and Dame Blake were alone again Blake spoke up, "How long has that been sitting on your mind?"
"A while… I think since my first battle…" Velvet replied solemnly.
"Then why are you still in the army? You finished your required service a while ago."
"I can't just leave. I have friends and allies I need to protect!" She paused for a second, "Well… I had them…" Velvet replied. Now that things had died down at least a bit things really started to sink in.
"Velvet, we both lost a lot of friends, but we can't focus on that or we may end up seeing them again sooner than we should."
"I know… I… I won't be able to forget them though..." She said hanging her head.
"I'm not asking you to. I just need you to not dwell on it, well not yet. When we get back we can properly grieve."
"Okay…"
While they talked Dame Coco made her way to Lady Cinder's tent thinking about what Velvet said. She started to remember the people she had slew in her last couple of battles, but before she got too deep in thought she had reached her destination. Cinder possessed the second largest tent the only larger one was for constructing battle strategies. Inside her tent there was a simple bed and her own personal rack of weapons and armour.
"Lady Cinder, permission to enter?" Dame Coco asked.
"Permission granted."
Coco took a step inside, "It's about the two prisoners, I had to stop one of our men from beating them."
"Why did you do that?" Lady Cinder replied in a calm tone.
"Well ma'am beating bound defenseless soldiers is beneath this battalion."
"That may be true, but don't you want to see those two pay for what they did to our men?"
Dame Coco sighed not answering.
"Coco. Answer."
"Ma'am I don't. We killed the lord of their castle and the rest of their soldiers. We've already made them pay." She said honestly.
"Have you grown soft on me? I have no need for Knights with no backbone."
"I'm not growing soft. I'm trying to show the honour that I know our kingdom possesses."
"Well if you want to be chivalrous you'll have to guard them in your own tent. I'm not posting any other soldiers to assist you." Lady Cinder told her knowing full well a single person isn't enough to guard.
"Thank you ma'am."
"Oh and Coco, if they escape the blame will be put directly on your shoulders." Cinder warned her while she sent Dame Coco on her way.