Gavril lowered his voice. "Which I can guarantee you will receive if you return me to my father."
"Your father has neither land nor pardon to offer."
"He will."
"No, he will not, and I would sooner see my children put to the blade than take a copper from that traitor." Toman stepped closer to Gavril. "And if I may offer a word of advice, boy? You would do well to look deep into your heart and reconsider your loyalty to him before we reach the city gates."
"My loyalty to my father is absolute."
"For now. Wait until they're slicing into you--a thousand times. Do you know what that's like?"
"I'm certain I'll find out if I'm captured."
"Brave words for a child. Perhaps I ought to do you a favor and torture you myself. Give you time to change your story before the experts take over."
"I have no story to change."
"But you could. Show the emperor that you have seen the error of your ways, recant, and throw yourself on his mercy."
Gavril's eyes narrowed. "And how would that help you?"
"As I said, I have children. I am a father and you are a boy. Perhaps I fear you've been led astray."
"I may be young, but I am not a child, foolish enough to be led astray by my father, nor to be tricked by you."
"It's no trick, boy. I know the torture methods the emperor employs--intimately--and I am suggesting you may wish to avoid learning of them yourself. There is a way you can do so that will benefit us both. Tell me where to find your mother."
The bandit leader got his reaction then. An honest one, too great for Gavril to conceal.
"You plan . . ." Gavril could not finish.
"Some argue today that our laws are too lenient. They long for the old days, when crime was almost unheard of, those past ages where to commit one meant the lives of your entire family were forfeit. Personally, I'm quite glad that is no longer a possibility, but still, in matters where the crime is treason? The emperor was too lenient when he exiled Alvar Kitsune. Not only did he leave you and your mother alive, but he allowed your family to retain their caste, their wealth, their social standing . . . look where it got him."
"My mother played no role in my father's escape."
"But you did. Your uncles did. Your family turned the emperor's mercy against him and used the wealth they retained to raise an army. The only way to punish that? Retract his mercy. All traces of his mercy. Annihilate you and your mother and your uncles and their wives and their children and wipe the Kitsunes from the empire. That is what the emperor wishes now. I will help him achieve his revenge."
Gavril's jaw worked, but he said only, "My mother did not even know my father was alive."
"She does now."
"I presume so, but he has not seen her. He had her taken from the imperial city and put into safekeeping before this began. I do not know where she is."
Toman peered at him. "Are you saying your father does not trust you? That he has reason to doubt your filial loyalty?"
"No, it is my maternal loyalty that concerns him. He knows I worry about my mother, and he knows that it would be unsafe for me to contact her. So he has given me no way of doing so. For both our sakes."
"Hmm, well, I was going to suggest that it would help your cause if you willingly turned her over, but I can see that's not likely to happen. Perhaps, then, I can appeal to your maternal concern myself. There are others searching for your mother, hoping to win a reward from the emperor. He would not require her to be returned alive. If you are certain she played no role in your treason, perhaps it is best if you allow her to be returned--with you--to the imperial city, where she can plead her innocence to the emperor."
Gavril's cold gaze met Toman's. "Even if I agreed, as I said, I do not know where to find her."
Toman nodded slowly and paced in front of the two of them, as if thinking of a new tactic. Then the bandit grabbed Moria, wrenching her around so fast that she didn't have time to react before his dagger was pressed against her throat.
"Are you certain, boy?" The bandit leader pushed the blade edge into Moria's neck and pain sliced through her, hot blood dripping. "Perhaps you wish to rethink that. And rethink your affection for the Keeper."
"I do not need to rethink either," Gavril said, his words chill and brittle. "I cannot tell you what I do not know. I could tell you a lie, to save the Keeper's life, but her death means only that I do not have to share the wagon or the rations. Or worry about falling asleep and waking with her hands around my throat. If the emperor would be satisfied with her corpse, then that is your choice."
Toman shifted his weight, the blade digging in, and Moria gasped. Gavril tensed, as if ready to react, the movement so slight the bandit seemed not to notice.