Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 Firepaw returned with a chaffinch gripped firmly between his teeth. He dropped it in front of Tigerclaw, who stood waiting in the hollow. "You're the first one back," meowed the warrior. "Yeah, but I've got loads more prey to fetch," Firepaw mewed quickly. "I buried it back—" "I know exactly what you did," Tigerclaw growled. "I've been watching you." A swish of bushes announced Graypaw's return. He was carrying a small squirrel in his mouth, which he dropped beside Firepaw's chaffinch. "Yuck!" he spat. "Squirrels are too furry. I'll be picking hairs out of my teeth all evening." Tigerclaw paid no attention to Graypaw's grumbling. "Ravenpaw's late," he observed. "We'll give him a bit longer and then return to camp." "But what if he's been bitten by an adder?" Firepaw protested. "Then it's his own fault," Tigerclaw replied coldly. "There's no room for fools in ThunderClan."

第十一章火爪回来了，嘴里紧紧叼着一只苍头燕雀。 他把它扔到虎爪面前，虎爪正站在洼地里等着他。 “你是第一个回来的。” “是啊，但我还有很多猎物要抓。”火爪迅速地叫道。 “我很清楚你做了什么。”虎爪咆哮道。 “我一直在观察你。”灌木丛的沙沙声宣告灰爪回来了。 他嘴里叼着一只小松鼠，把它丢在了火爪的苍头燕雀旁边。 “恶心！”他吐了一口唾沫。“松鼠毛茸茸的。 我整个晚上都要从牙缝里剔毛了。” 虎爪没有理会灰爪子的抱怨。 “拉文爪迟到了。”他说。 “我们会再给他一点时间，然后回到营地。” “但如果他被毒蛇咬了怎么办？”Firepaw抗议道。 “那就是他自己的错了。”虎爪冷冷地回答。 “在《ThunderClan》中没有傻瓜的容身之地。”

They waited in silence. Graypaw and Firepaw exchanged glances, worried about Ravenpaw. Tigerclaw sat motionless, apparently lost in his own thoughts. Firepaw was the first to scent Ravenpaw's arrival. He jumped to his paws as the black cat leaped into the clearing, looking unusually pleased with himself. Dangling from his mouth was the long, diamond-patterned body of an adder. "Ravenpaw! Are you okay?" Firepaw called. "Hey!" meowed Graypaw, rushing forward to admire Ravenpaw's catch. "Did that bite you?" "I was too quick for it!" Ravenpaw purred loudly. Then he caught Tigerclaw's eye and fell silent. Tigerclaw fixed all three excited apprentices with a cold stare. "Come on," he said shortly. "Let's collect the rest of your prey and get back to camp." Firepaw, Graypaw, and Ravenpaw entered the camp, strolling behind Tigerclaw. Their impressive day's catch hung from their mouths, although Ravenpaw kept tripping over his dead

他们默默地等着。灰爪和火爪交换了一下眼色，为拉文爪担心。 虎爪一动不动地坐着，显然陷入了沉思。 火爪是第一个察觉到拉文爪到来的人。 当黑猫跳到空地上时，他跳了起来，看起来异常高兴。 在他的嘴里悬挂着一条长而有菱形图案的蝰蛇的身体。 “Ravenpaw !你还好吗？”Firepaw调用。 “嘿！”格雷paw叫了一声，冲上前欣赏拉文爪抓来的东西。 “它咬了你吗？”“我跑得太快了！”拉文爪大声地咕噜着。 然后他碰到了虎爪的目光，沉默了下来。 虎爪冷冷地盯着三个兴奋的徒弟。 “来吧，”他简短地说。 “我们把剩下的猎物收起来，回营地去吧。” 火爪、灰爪和鸦爪走在虎爪后面，走进了营地。 他们的嘴里挂着令人印象深刻的一天的渔获，尽管拉文爪总是被他的尸体绊倒

snake. As they emerged from the gorse into the camp, a group of young kits scrambled out of the nursery to watch them pass. "Look!" Firepaw heard one of them say. "Apprentices, just back from hunting!" He recognized the little tabby Yellowfang had hissed at the day before. Sitting next to him was a fluffy gray kit, no more than two moons old. A tiny black kit and a small tortoiseshell stood beside them. "Isn't that the kittypet, Firepaw?" squeaked the gray kit. "Yeah! Look at his orange fur!" mewed the black one. "They say he's a good hunter," the tortoiseshell added. "He looks a bit like Lionheart. Do you suppose he's as good as him?" "I can't wait to start my training," mewed the tabby. "I'm going to be the best warrior ThunderClan has ever seen!" Firepaw lifted his chin, feeling proud at the kits' admiring comments. He followed his two friends into the center of the clearing. "An adder!" Graypaw mewed again, as the

蛇。当他们从金雀园出来进入营地时，一群幼崽从保育室里爬出来，看着他们经过。 “看!”火爪听见其中一个说。 “学徒们，刚打猎回来！”他认出了黄牙昨天嘶嘶叫过的那只斑猫。 他旁边放着一个毛茸茸的灰色工具箱，只有两个月大。 他们旁边站着一个黑色的小工具箱和一个小玳瑁。 “那不是那只小猫吗，火爪？”灰色的小猫吱吱叫道。 “是啊!看他的橙色皮毛！”黑色的猫叫道。 “他们说他是个好猎手，”龟甲补充道。 “他看起来有点像狮心王。 你认为他和他一样好吗？”“我等不及要开始训练了，”虎斑猫喵喵地说。 “我将成为雷霆战队有史以来最好的战士！”火爪抬起下巴，对这些赞美之词感到自豪。 他跟着两个朋友来到空地中央。 “一个加法器!”灰爪又叫了一声

apprentices dropped their catch for the other cats to share. "What shall I do with it?" asked Ravenpaw, sniffing the snake's long body as it lay beside the heap. "Can you eat adders?" asked Graypaw. "Trust you to think of your stomach!" Firepaw joked, butting Graypaw with his head. "Well, I wouldn't want to eat it," murmured Ravenpaw. "I mean, my mouth tastes pretty foul after carrying it back." "Let's put it on the tree stump, then," suggested Graypaw, "so that Dustpaw and Sandpaw can see it when they get back." They each carried a piece of their fresh-kill, and the adder, back to their den. Graypaw carefully placed the adder on the stump, arranging the snake so that it could be seen clearly from all sides. Then they ate. When they had finished they sat close together to groom one another and talk. "I wonder who Bluestar will choose to go to the Gathering?" Firepaw meowed. "It'll be full moon tomorrow." "Sandpaw and Dustpaw have been twice

学徒们放下他们的猎物，让其他猫分享。 “我该拿它怎么办？”拉文爪问，嗅了嗅躺在堆边的蛇的长身体。 “你能吃蝰蛇吗？”灰爪问。 “相信你会想到你的胃！”火爪开玩笑说，用头撞灰爪。 “好吧，我可不想吃。”拉文爪喃喃地说。 “我的意思是，把它带回来后，我嘴里的味道很难闻。” “那我们就把它放在树桩上吧，”灰爪子建议道，“这样尘土爪和Sandpaw回来的时候就能看到它了。” 他们每个人都带着一块刚捕到的猎物，还有那条蝰蛇，回到了自己的窝里。 灰爪小心翼翼地把蝰蛇放在树桩上，把蛇排列好，这样从四面都能清楚地看到它。 然后他们吃了。吃完后，他们紧挨着坐着，互相梳洗，交谈。 “我想知道蓝星会选择谁去参加聚会？”Firepaw呜呜呜。 “明天就是满月了。” “Sandpaw和Dustpaw来过两次了

already," replied Graypaw. "Perhaps Bluestar will choose one of us this time," mewed Firepaw. "After all, we've been training for almost three moons now." "But Sandpaw and Dustpaw are still the eldest apprentices," Ravenpaw pointed out. Firepaw nodded. "And this Gathering will be an important one. It'll be the first time the Clans have met since WindClan disappeared. No cat knows what ShadowClan is going to say about it." Tigerclaw's low meow interrupted them. "You are right, youngster." The warrior had strolled up to them unnoticed. "By the way, Firepaw," he added smoothly, "Bluestar wants to see you." Firepaw looked up, startled. Why would Bluestar want to see him? "Now—if you can spare the time," Tigerclaw meowed. Firepaw jumped up immediately and bounded off across the clearing toward Bluestar's den. Bluestar was sitting outside, her tail flicking restlessly back and forth. When she saw Firepaw she stood up and looked steadily down at him. "Tigerclaw has told me that he saw you talking

已经好了。”Graypaw回答。 “也许这次蓝星会选择我们中的一个。” “毕竟，我们已经训练了将近三个月了。” “但是Sandpaw和Dustpaw仍然是最大的学徒。”拉文爪指出。 Firepaw点点头。“这次会议将是一次重要的会议。 这将是风氏族消失后氏族第一次见面。 谁也不知道影族会怎么说。” 虎爪的低叫声打断了他们。 “你说得对，孩子。” 那个战士悄无声息地向他们走来。 “对了，火爪，”他平静地补充道，“蓝星要见你。” 火爪抬起头，吓了一跳。 蓝星为什么要见他？ “现在——如果你有时间的话。”虎爪叫道。 火爪立刻跳了起来，越过空地向蓝星的巢穴跑去。 蓝星坐在外面，尾巴不安地前后摆动着。 当她看到火爪时，她站了起来，目不转睛地看着他。 “虎爪告诉我，他看见你说话了

with a cat from the Twolegplace today," she meowed quietly. "But—" Firepaw began. "He said that you began by fighting with this cat but ended up sharing tongues with it." "That's true," Firepaw admitted, feeling his fur prickle defensively. "But he was an old friend. We grew up together." He paused and swallowed. "When I was a kittypet." Bluestar looked at him for a long moment. "Do you miss your old life, Firepaw?" she asked. "Think carefully, now." "No." How can Bluestar think that? Firepaw wondered. His head was spinning. What was Bluestar trying to make him say? "Do you wish to leave the Clan?" "Of course not!" Firepaw was shocked by her question. Bluestar didn't seem to hear the passion in his answer. She shook her head, looking suddenly old and tired. "I won't judge you if you leave us, Firepaw. Perhaps I expected too much of you. Perhaps my judgment has been clouded by the Clan's need for new warriors."

“今天带着一只从Twolegplace来的猫，”她轻声喵喵地叫着。 “可是——”火爪开始说。“他说你开始和这只猫打架，但最后却和它共用舌头。” “没错。”火爪承认道，感觉自己的毛在防御地刺痛。 “但他是我的老朋友。 我们一起长大的。”他停顿了一下，咽了口气。 “当我还是一只小猫的时候。”蓝星看了他很长时间。 “你怀念以前的生活吗，火爪？”她问。 “仔细想想，现在。”“没有。” 蓝星怎么会这么想？ Firepaw很好奇。他头晕目眩。 蓝星想让他说什么？ “你想离开氏族吗？”“当然不会！”火爪被她的问题惊呆了。 蓝星似乎没有从他的回答中听到激情。 她摇了摇头，突然显得又老又累。 “如果你离开我们，我不会批评你的，火爪。 也许我对你期望太高了。 也许是氏族对新战士的需求影响了我的判断。”