Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 Sunhigh came and went as the cats made their way through WindClan's old hunting grounds. Their heavy silence showed that they were still sore after the rat fight. Firepaw felt scratched and bitten all over. He could see Graypaw was limping, occasionally hopping on three legs to protect his injured back leg. But it was Bluestar who worried him most. Her pace was even slower now, but she refused to stop and rest. The grim look on her face, clouded by pain, told Firepaw how much she wanted to reach the ThunderClan camp. "Don't worry about ShadowClan warriors," she meowed through gritted teeth as Tigerclaw paused to sniff the air. "You won't find any here today." How could she be so sure? Firepaw wondered. They picked their way carefully down the steep, rocky hillside that led to Fourtrees and joined the familiar trail that led home. It was late afternoon, and Firepaw began to think longingly of his nest, and a plump helping of fresh-kill. "I can still smell the stench of ShadowClan,"

第十七章太阳来了又去，猫们穿过风氏族的旧狩猎场。 他们的沉默表明他们在老鼠大战之后还很痛苦。 火爪觉得浑身都是抓伤和咬伤。 他看见灰爪一瘸一拐地走着，偶尔用三条腿跳着，以保护受伤的后腿。 但最让他担心的是蓝星。 她的脚步现在更慢了，但她拒绝停下来休息。 她那被痛苦笼罩的狰狞表情告诉了火爪，她是多么想去雷霆氏族的营地。 “别担心影族的战士。”她咬紧牙关叫道，虎爪停下来嗅了嗅空气。 “今天你在这里找不到。” 她怎么能这么肯定呢？Firepaw很好奇。 他们小心翼翼地走下通往四树村的陡峭的岩石山坡，走上熟悉的回家的小路。 已经是傍晚了，火爪开始想念他的窝，还有一大堆新鲜的猎物。 “我还能闻到影子氏族的臭味。”

Graypaw muttered to Firepaw as they trekked through ThunderClan's hunting grounds. "Perhaps the breeze has carried it down from WindClan's territory," Firepaw suggested. He could smell it too, and his whiskers were trembling. Suddenly Ravenpaw stopped. "Can you hear that?" he mewed in a hushed voice. Firepaw strained his ears. At first he heard only the familiar sounds of the forest—leaves rustling, a pigeon calling. Then his blood ran cold. In the distance he could hear battle-hungry yowls, and the shrill squeal of terrified kits. "Quick!" Bluestar howled. "It is as StarClan warned me. Our camp is being attacked!" She tried to leap forward, but stumbled. She pushed herself up and limped onward. Tigerclaw and Firepaw pelted forward side by side. Graypaw and Ravenpaw followed, their tail fur bristled to twice its usual size. Firepaw forgot his soreness as he charged toward the camp. His only concern was to protect the Clan. The sounds of battle grew louder and louder as he neared the camp entrance, and the stench of

灰爪咕哝着对火爪说，他们穿过了雷霆氏族的狩猎场。 “也许是风把它从风氏族的地盘上刮下来的。” 他也能闻到，他的胡须在颤抖。 突然，拉文爪停了下来。 “你听到了吗？”他压低声音叫道。 火爪竖起耳朵。 起初，他只听到熟悉的森林树叶沙沙作响的声音，鸽子的叫声。 然后他的血都凉了。在远处，他可以听到渴望战斗的嚎叫，以及受惊的小鹰的尖声尖叫。 “快!”蓝星嚎叫起来。“就像StarClan警告我的那样。 我们的营地被袭击了！”她想向前跳，但绊了一跤。 她站起身来，一瘸一拐地往前走。 虎爪和火爪并肩向前冲去。 灰爪和乌鸦爪跟在后面，它们的尾巴毛竖得比平时大一倍。 火爪朝营地冲去，忘记了疼痛。 他唯一关心的是保护氏族。 战斗的声音越来越大，当他接近营地的入口，和恶臭

ShadowClan filled his nostrils. He was right behind Tigerclaw as the cats dashed through the tunnel and into the clearing. They were met by a frenzy of fighting, ThunderClan cats battling furiously with ShadowClan warriors. The kits were out of sight, and Firepaw hoped they were safely hidden in the nursery. He guessed the weakest elders would be sheltering inside the hollow trunk of their fallen tree. Every corner of the camp seemed alive with warriors. Firepaw could see Frostfur and Goldenflower clawing and biting at a huge gray tom. Even the young tabby queen Brindleface was fighting, though she was very close to kitting. Darkstripe was locked in a fierce tussle with a black warrior. Three of the elders, Smallear, Patchpelt, and One-eye, were nipping bravely at a tortoiseshell that fought with twice their speed and ferocity. The returning cats hurled themselves into the battle. Firepaw caught hold of a tabby warrior queen, much larger than him, and sank his teeth deep into her leg. She yowled with pain and

影子氏族充满了他的鼻孔。 他跟在虎爪后面，猫们冲过隧道，进入空地。 他们遇到了一场疯狂的战斗，雷霆族的猫和影子族的战士在激烈地战斗。 幼崽们看不见了，火爪希望它们安全地藏在育儿室里。 他猜想最弱的长者会躲在倒下的树的空心树干里。 营地的每个角落似乎都充满了战士。 火爪看见霜毛和金花在抓咬一只巨大的灰汤姆。 即使是年轻的虎斑猫女王Brindleface也在战斗，尽管她非常接近小猫。 “暗条纹”和一个黑人战士进行了激烈的搏斗。 三位长老，小个子、补丁和独眼，正勇敢地向一只以两倍于他们的速度和凶猛搏斗的玳瑁咬去。 归来的猫投入战斗。 “火爪”抓住了一只比他大得多的虎斑猫女王，把牙齿深深地咬进了她的腿里。 她痛苦地嚎叫着

turned on him, lashing out with sharp claws and lunging at his neck with her teeth bared. He twisted and ducked to avoid her bite. She couldn't match his speed, and he managed to grasp her from behind and pull her down into the dirt. With his strong hind legs he clawed at her back till she squealed and struggled away from him, running headlong into the thick undergrowth that surrounded the camp. Firepaw glanced around to see that Bluestar had arrived. Despite her injuries, she was fighting another tabby. Firepaw had never seen her fight before, but even wounded, she was a powerful opponent. Her victim struggled to escape but she held him tightly and clawed him so fiercely that Firepaw knew he would bear the scars of this fight for many moons. Then he saw a white ShadowClan cat with jet- black paws dragging a ThunderClan elder away from the nursery. Firepaw remembered those unusual dark paws from the Gathering. Blackfoot! The ShadowClan deputy made quick work of killing the elder, who had been guarding the kits, and began to reach into the bramble nest with one

转过身来，用锋利的爪子猛击他，露出牙齿扑向他的脖子。 他扭动身子，躲避她的咬。 她的速度赶不上他，他设法从后面抓住她，把她拉到泥土里。 他用强壮的后腿抓着她的背，直到她尖叫着挣扎着离开他，一头冲进了包围营地的茂密的灌木丛中。 火爪环顾四周，看到蓝星已经到了。 尽管她受伤了，她还是在和另一只虎斑猫搏斗。 火爪以前从未见过她打架，但即使受了伤，她也是一个强大的对手。 她的受害者挣扎着要逃跑，但她紧紧地抓住他，猛烈地抓着他，以至于火爪知道他将承受这场战斗的伤疤好几个月。 接着，他看见一只白色影族的猫，爪子乌黑，正拖着一个雷族的长老离开育儿室。 火爪想起了集会上那些不寻常的黑爪子。 黑脚!暗影族的副手迅速杀死了守卫着工具包的长老，并开始用一个工具包进入荆棘巢

massive paw. The kits were squealing and mewling, undefended now as their mothers wrestled with other ShadowClan warriors in the clearing. Firepaw prepared to spring toward the nursery, but a claw sliced painfully down his side and he whipped around to see a scrawny tortoiseshell leap on top of him. As he slammed into the ground, he tried to call out to the other ThunderClan cats that the kits were in danger. Fighting with all his strength to escape the tortoiseshell's grip, he wrenched his head around so he could see the bramble nest. Blackfoot had scooped two kits from their bedding already and was reaching in for a third. Firepaw saw no more as the tortoiseshell raked his belly with her hind claws. Firepaw scrabbled onto his feet and crouched low, as if in defeat. The trick had worked before and it worked now. As the tortoiseshell gripped him triumphantly and began to sink her teeth into Firepaw's neck, Firepaw sprang upward as hard as he could and flung the warrior away. He spun around and was on the winded warrior in an instant. This time he

巨大的爪子。当它们的妈妈和其他暗影族战士在空地上扭打时，幼崽们尖叫着，呜呜叫着，毫无防备。 火爪准备向保育室扑去，但一只爪子痛苦地划破了他的身体，他猛地转过身来，看见一只骨瘦如柴的乌龟跳到他身上。 当他撞到地上时，他试图向其他雷霆家族的猫喊话，告诉它们的幼崽有危险。 他用尽全身力气挣脱龟甲的束缚，扭过头来，这样他就能看到荆棘巢了。 黑脚已经从他们的被窝里捞出了两只小毛毯，正伸手去拿第三只。 火爪什么也没看见，龟甲用后爪耙着他的肚子。 火爪爬了起来，蹲得很低，好像失败了。 这招以前奏效过，现在也奏效了。 当龟甲得意地抓住他，开始咬住火爪的脖子时，火爪使出全身的力气跳了起来，把勇士甩了出去。 他转过身来，立刻骑上了那辆狂风战士。 这一次他

showed no mercy, plunging his teeth deep into the cat's shoulder. The bite sent the she-cat howling into the undergrowth. Firepaw jumped up, dashed over to the nursery, and thrust his head through the nursery entrance. Blackfoot was nowhere to be seen. Inside the nest, crouching over the terrified kits, was Yellowfang. Her gray fur was spattered with blood, and one of her eyes was painfully swollen. She looked up at Firepaw with a ferocious hiss, then, realizing it was him, she yowled, "They're okay. I'll protect them." Firepaw looked at her as she calmed the helpless kits, and Brokenstar's dire warning about the ShadowClan rogue flashed through his mind. He didn't have time to think about that now. He would have to trust Yellowfang. He nodded quickly and ducked back out of the brambles. There were now only a few ShadowClan cats left in the camp. Ravenpaw and Graypaw were fighting side by side, lashing out at a black tom until he fled howling into the bushes. Whitestorm and Darkstripe chased the last two intruders out of the camp, sending them off with a few extra

他毫不留情，把牙齿深深地咬进了猫的肩膀。 被咬后，母猫嚎叫着躲进了灌木丛。 火爪跳起来，冲到育儿室，把头伸进育儿室的入口。 黑脚不见了。 窝里蹲在吓坏了的雏鸟身旁的是“黄牙”。 她灰色的皮毛上溅满了血，一只眼睛肿得很痛。 她抬头看着火爪，恶狠狠地嘘了一声，然后意识到是他，她嚎叫道：“他们没事。 我会保护他们的。”火爪看着她安抚无助的套件，布罗肯斯塔关于暗影族盗贼的可怕警告闪过他的脑海。 他现在没有时间考虑这个问题。 他必须信任黄牙。 他迅速点了点头，从荆棘丛中钻了出来。 现在营地里只剩下几只影子家族的猫了。 乌鸦爪和灰爪并肩作战，向一只黑汤姆猛击，直到它嚎叫着逃进灌木丛。 白风暴和暗条纹将最后两个入侵者赶出了营地，用几个额外的人把他们送走了