Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 Firepaw peered over the brow of a bush- covered slope. Graypaw and Ravenpaw crouched beside him. Next to them a group of ThunderClan elders, queens, and warriors waited in the undergrowth for Bluestar to give the signal. Firepaw had not been to this place since his first journey with Lionheart and Tigerclaw. The steep-sided glade looked different now. The rich greenness of the woods had been bleached away by the cold light of the full moon, and the leaves on the trees glowed silver. At the bottom stood the large oaks that marked where the corner of each Clan's territory touched the other three. The air was thick with the warm scents of cats from the other Clans. Firepaw could see them quite clearly in the moonlight, moving about below in the grassy clearing that lay between the four oaks. In the center of the clearing, a large, jagged rock rose from the forest floor like a broken tooth. "Look at all those cats down there!" hissed Ravenpaw under his breath. "There's Crookedstar!" Graypaw hissed back.

第十二章火爪从灌木丛覆盖的斜坡顶上往外窥视。 灰爪和鸦爪蹲在他身边。 在他们旁边，一群雷霆部落的长老、女王和战士在灌木丛中等待蓝星发出信号。 火爪自从第一次带着狮心和虎爪来这里之后，就再也没有来过这里。 陡峭的林间空地现在看起来不一样了。 树林里那浓郁的绿色被满月的寒光褪去了，树上的叶子发出银光。 山脚下矗立着几棵高大的橡树，标志着每个部落的领地与其他三个部落的交界处。 空气中弥漫着来自其他氏族的猫的温暖气味。 在月光下，火爪可以很清楚地看到他们在下面四棵橡树之间的草地上走动。 在空地的中央，一块参差不齐的大石头从森林的地面上拔地而起，就像一颗断了的牙齿。 “看看下面那些猫！”拉文爪压低声音说。 “有Crookedstar !”灰爪子嘶嘶地回答。

"RiverClan's leader." "Where?" Firepaw mewed, nudging Graypaw impatiently. "That light-colored tabby, beside the Great Rock." Firepaw followed Graypaw's nod and saw a huge tom, even bigger than Lionheart, sitting at the center of the clearing. His striped coat shone pale in the moonlight. Even from this distance, his old face showed the signs of a harsh life, and his mouth looked twisted, as if it had once been broken and had healed badly. "Hey!" mewed Graypaw. "Did you see Sandpaw spit when I told her I hoped she had a nice evening at home?" "You bet!" Firepaw purred. Ravenpaw interrupted them with a muffled growl. "Look! There's Brokenstar—ShadowClan's leader," he hissed. Firepaw looked down at the dark brown tabby. His fur was unusually long and his face was broad and flattened. There was a stillness in the way he sat and stared around him that made Firepaw's fur prickle uncomfortably.

“RiverClan的领袖。”“在哪里?”火爪叫了一声，不耐烦地推了推灰爪。 “那只浅色的虎斑猫，在大岩石旁边。” 火爪跟着灰爪点头，看见空地中央坐着一只比狮心王还大的大汤姆。 他的条纹上衣在月光下闪着苍白的光。 即使隔着这么远的距离，他那张苍老的脸仍显示出生活艰苦的迹象，他的嘴看起来扭曲了，好像曾经断过，而且愈合得很厉害。 “嘿！”灰爪叫道。“当我告诉Sandpaw我希望她在家里度过一个愉快的夜晚时，你看到她吐唾沫了吗？”“你赌!”Firepaw呼噜。 拉文爪用一声低沉的咆哮打断了他们。 “看!那是失恋星——暗影氏族的首领。”他嘶嘶地说。 火爪低头看着那只深棕色的虎斑猫。 它的皮毛长得异乎寻常，脸又宽又平。 他呆呆地坐着，凝视着四周，这让火爪的毛刺痛得很不舒服。

"He looks pretty nasty," Firepaw muttered. "Yeah," agreed Graypaw. "He's certainly got a reputation among all the Clans for not suffering fools gladly. And he's not been leader that long— four moons, ever since his father, Raggedstar, died." "What does the leader of WindClan look like?" Firepaw asked. "Tallstar? I've never seen him, but I know he's black and white with a very long tail," answered Graypaw. "Can you see him now?" asked Ravenpaw. Graypaw peered down, searching the crowd of cats below. "Nope!" "Can you scent any WindClan cats?" Firepaw asked. Graypaw shook his head. "No." Lionheart's meow sounded softly beside them. "The WindClan cats may just be late." "But what if they don't turn up at all?" mewed Graypaw. "Hush! We must all be patient. These are difficult times. Now keep quiet. Bluestar will give the signal to move soon," Lionheart meowed

“他看起来很讨厌。”火爪咕哝道。 “是啊。”灰爪同意道。“他在氏族中是出了名的，不会轻易容忍傻瓜。 而且他当领袖的时间不长——自从他父亲破星死后，他当了四个月的领袖。” “风氏族的首领长什么样？”Firepaw问道。 “Tallstar ?我从来没见过它，但我知道它是黑白相间的，还有一条很长的尾巴。” “你现在能看见他吗？”拉文爪问。 灰爪往下看，搜索着下面的一群猫。 “不!”“你能闻到风氏族猫的气味吗？”Firepaw问道。 灰爪摇了摇头。“没有。” 狮子心的喵喵声在他们身边轻轻地响起。 “风氏族的猫可能只是迟到了。” “但如果它们根本不出现呢？”灰爪叫道。 “嘘!我们都必须有耐心。 这是艰难的时刻。 现在保持安静。蓝星很快就会发出行动的信号。”狮心叫道

quietly. As he spoke, Bluestar stood, and, holding her tail high, flicked it from one side to the other. Firepaw's heart missed a beat as the ThunderClan cats rose as one and bounded through the bushes, down toward the meeting place. He raced alongside them, feeling the wind rush in his ears and his paws tingle with anticipation. The ThunderClan cats paused instinctively on the edge of the clearing, outside the boundary of the oaks. Bluestar sniffed the air. Then she nodded and the troop moved forward into the clearing. Firepaw felt thrilled. The other cats looked even more impressive close up, milling about the Great Rock. A large white warrior strode past. Firepaw and Ravenpaw looked at him in awe. "Look at his paws!" Ravenpaw murmured. Firepaw looked down and realized the huge paws of this great tom were jet black. "It must be Blackfoot," mewed Grewpaw. "ShadowClan's new deputy." Blackfoot stalked over to Brokenstar and sat down beside him. The ShadowClan leader acknowledged him with a twitch of one ear, but

安静地。他说话的时候，蓝星站了起来，把尾巴高高举起，从一边甩到另一边。 当雷霆家族的猫们齐声站起来，穿过灌木丛，朝集合地点跳去的时候，火爪的心停了一下。 他跑到他们身边，感觉风在耳朵里呼啸，爪子因期待而发麻。 雷霆家族的猫本能地停在空地的边缘，在橡树的边界外。 蓝星嗅了嗅空气。然后她点了点头，队伍向前进入空地。 火爪感到很激动。其他的猫在大岩石周围转来转去，近处看起来更令人印象深刻。 一个高大的白人战士大步走过。 火爪和拉文爪敬畏地看着他。 “看他的爪子！”Ravenpaw低声说道。 火爪往下一看，发现这只大汤姆的大爪子是乌黑的。 “一定是黑脚。” “影子家族的新副手。” 黑脚大步走向布罗肯斯塔，坐在他身边。 暗影氏族首领摇了摇耳朵承认了他，但是

said nothing. "When does the meeting begin?" Ravenpaw asked Whitestorm. "Be patient, Ravenpaw," he answered. "The sky is clear tonight, so we have plenty of time." Lionheart leaned over and added, "We warriors like to spend a little time boasting about our victories, while the elders swap tales about the ancient days before the Twolegs came here." All three apprentices looked up at him and saw his whiskers twitch mischievously. Dappletail, One-eye, and Smallear headed straight off toward a group of elderly cats who were settling themselves below one of the oak trees. Whitestorm and Lionheart strolled over to another pair of warriors whom Firepaw did not know. He sniffed the air and recognized their scent as RiverClan. Bluestar's voice sounded behind the three apprentices. "Don't waste any of your time tonight," she warned. "This is a good opportunity to meet your enemies. Listen to them; remember what they look like and how they behave. There is a great deal to be learned from these meetings."

什么也没说。“会议什么时候开始？”拉文爪问白风暴。 “耐心点，拉文爪。”他回答。 “今晚天空晴朗，所以我们有足够的时间。” 狮心王俯下身，补充道：“我们战士喜欢花点时间吹嘘自己的胜利，而长老们则会交换特立格人来这里之前的古老故事。” 三个徒弟都抬头看着他，只见他的胡须调皮地抽动着。 斑尾、独眼和小个子径直朝一群老猫走去，它们正躺在一棵橡树下。 白风暴和狮心向另一对火爪不认识的战士走去。 他嗅了嗅空气，认出那是河族的气味。 三个徒弟身后传来了蓝星的声音。 “今晚不要浪费时间，”她警告说。 “这是一个会见敌人的好机会。 倾听他们；记住他们的样子和行为。 我们可以从这些会议中学到很多东西。”

"And say little," warned Tigerclaw. "Don't give anything away that might be used against us once the moon has waned." "Don't worry; we won't!" Firepaw promised hastily, looking into Tigerclaw's eyes. The feeling that Tigerclaw didn't trust his loyalty lingered with him still. The two warriors nodded and moved on, and the apprentices were left alone. They looked at each other. "What do we do now?" Firepaw asked. "What they said," replied Ravenpaw. "Listen." "And don't say too much," Graypaw added. Firepaw nodded gravely. "I'm going to see where Tigerclaw went," he mewed. "Well, I'm going to find Lionheart," mewed Graypaw. "You coming, Ravenpaw?" "No, thanks," Ravenpaw replied. "I'm going to find some of the other apprentices." "Okay, we'll meet up later," mewed Firepaw, and he trotted in the direction Tigerclaw had taken. He scented Tigerclaw easily and found him sitting at the center of a group of huge warriors,

“少说话。”虎爪警告说。 “不要泄露任何东西，一旦月亮消失，可能会被用来对付我们。” “别担心;我们不会!”火爪望着虎爪的眼睛，急忙答应道。 虎爪不信任他的忠诚，这种感觉仍然萦绕在他心头。 两位武士点点头，走开了，只剩下两个学徒。 他们面面相觑。 “我们现在怎么办？”Firepaw问道。 “听他们说的。”拉文爪回答。 “听着。”“不要说太多。”格雷paw补充道。 火爪严肃地点点头。“我要去看看虎爪去哪儿了。”他叫道。 “好吧，我要去找狮心王，”灰爪叫道。 “你来吗，拉文爪？”“不，谢谢。”拉文爪回答。 “我要去找一些其他的学徒。” “好吧，我们待会儿见。”火爪叫了一声，朝虎爪去的方向小跑着。 他轻松地嗅出了虎爪的气味，发现它正坐在一群高大的战士中间，