Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25 Buoyed up with relief at being home again, Firepaw and Graypaw sprinted ahead of the patrol into the ThunderClan camp. Frostfur was lying in the middle of the clearing, her head resting sadly on her paws. As the two apprentices bounded in she lifted her nose and sniffed the air. "My kits!" she cried. She leaped up and raced past Firepaw and Graypaw to meet the rest of the party as they emerged from the tunnel. The kits rushed over to Frostfur and nuzzled into her side. She curled her soft body around them and licked them each in turn, purring loudly. Yellowfang hung back at the camp entrance and looked on silently. Bluestar strode up to the returning patrol. She glanced fondly at Frostfur and her kits and then turned her eyes to Whitestorm. "Are they all right?" she asked. "They're fine," meowed Whitestorm. "Well done, Whitestorm. ThunderClan honors you." Whitestorm bent his head to accept her praise,

第二十五章回到家后，火爪和灰爪如释重负，在巡逻队的前面冲进了雷霆族的营地。 霜毛躺在空地中央，头悲哀地支在爪子上。 当两个学徒跳进来时，她抬起鼻子嗅了嗅空气。 “我的工具箱！”她叫道。她跳起来，从火爪和灰爪身边跑过，去迎接从隧道里出来的其他人。 幼崽们冲到弗罗斯特弗身边，用鼻子蹭她的身体。 她把柔软的身体蜷曲在它们周围，轮流舔着它们，大声地发出呼噜声。 黄牙站在营地门口，静静地看着。 蓝星大步走向回来的巡逻队。 她深情地瞥了弗罗斯特弗和她的孩子们一眼，然后把目光转向了白风暴。 “他们没事吧？”她问。 “他们很好，”怀特斯托姆叫道。 “干得好，白风暴。雷霆氏族向您致敬。” 怀特斯托姆低下头接受她的赞美，

and added, "But it was thanks to this apprentice that we found them." Firepaw lifted his head and tail proudly, about to speak, but Tigerclaw's accusing snarl sounded from across the clearing. "Why did you bring back the traitor?" The dark warrior stalked up to the patrol and stood beside his leader. "She is no traitor," Firepaw insisted. He looked around the camp. The rest of the cats had quickly gathered in the clearing to see the kits and congratulate the hunting party. Some of them had spotted Yellowfang and were eyeing her with looks of pure hatred. "She killed Spottedleaf," spat Longtail. "Look between Spottedleaf's claws," Graypaw suggested. "You will find the brown fur of Clawface, not Yellowfang's gray fur!" Bluestar nodded at Mousefur, who darted away from the crowd, toward the spot where Spottedleaf's body lay, waiting for its dawn burial. The Clan waited in tense silence till she returned. "Graypaw is right," Mousefur panted, rushing back to the clearing. "Spottedleaf was not attacked

并补充说：“但多亏了这个学徒，我们才找到了他们。” 火爪骄傲地抬起头和尾巴，想说话，但虎爪指责的咆哮从空地那边传来。 “你为什么把叛徒带回来？”黑暗的战士大步走向巡逻队，站在他的首领旁边。 “她不是叛徒。”火爪坚持道。 他环视了一下营地。 其他的猫很快聚集在空地上，去看幼崽，并向狩猎队表示祝贺。 他们中的一些人已经发现了黄牙，正用纯粹仇恨的目光盯着她。 “她杀了斑点叶。”长尾巴吐了口唾沫。 “看看斑点叶的爪子之间。”灰爪建议道。 “你会发现爪脸的棕色皮毛，而不是黄牙的灰色皮毛！”蓝星朝鼠毛点了点头，鼠毛离开人群，奔向斑点叶的尸体所在的地方，等待着黎明时分的埋葬。 氏族们紧张而沉默地等着她回来。 “灰爪子说得对。”鼠毛喘着气，跑回空地。 “斑点叶没有受到攻击

by a gray cat." A murmur of surprise rippled through the crowd. "But that doesn't mean she didn't help to take the kits!" hissed Tigerclaw. "Without Yellowfang we never would have recovered the kits!" Firepaw spat, his exhaustion making him impatient. "She knew that a ShadowClan warrior had taken them. She was hunting for them when I found her. She risked her life returning to the ShadowClan camp. It was Yellowfang who thought up the battle plan that got us into the ShadowClan camp and gave us a chance to defeat Brokenstar!" The cats listened to Firepaw's words, astonished. "He's right," Whitestorm meowed. "Yellowfang is a friend." "I'm glad to hear it," murmured Bluestar, catching Firepaw's eye. Frostfur's anxious meow sounded from the crowd. "Is Brokenstar dead?" she asked. "No, he escaped," Whitestorm told her. "But he will never lead ShadowClan again."

被一只灰猫咬的。”人群中响起一阵惊讶的窃窃私语。 “但这并不意味着她没有帮忙拿走小工具箱！”虎爪嘶嘶地说。 “如果没有‘黄牙’，我们永远也找不到那些工具包！”火爪啐了一口，他的疲惫使他不耐烦了。 她知道是一个暗影家族的战士带走了他们。 我发现她的时候，她正在找他们。 她冒着生命危险回到了暗影部落的营地。 是黄牙想出了作战计划，让我们进入了暗影部落的营地，给了我们打败布罗肯之星的机会！”猫们听了火爪的话，大吃一惊。 “他说得对。” “黄牙是我的朋友。”“听你这么说我很高兴。”蓝星喃喃地说，抓住了火爪的目光。 人群中传来弗罗斯特弗焦虑的喵喵声。 “布罗肯斯塔尔死了吗？”她问。 “不，他逃走了。”怀特斯托姆告诉她。 “但他永远不会再领导影子氏族了。”

Frostfur sighed in relief and returned to nuzzling her kits. Whitestorm looked at Bluestar. "I promised ShadowClan we would leave them in peace until next fullmoon," he explained. "Brokenstar's leadership has left their Clan in chaos." Bluestar nodded. "That was a wise and generous offer," she meowed approvingly. The ThunderClan leader walked past Whitestorm and the rest of the patrol and approached Yellowfang. Yellowfang lowered her eyes as Bluestar touched the gray cat's rough coat with her nose. "Yellowfang, I wish you to replace Spottedleaf as medicine cat to ThunderClan," Bluestar meowed. "I'm sure you'll find all her supplies as she left them." The other cats began to murmur to each other, tails flicking with excitement. Yellowfang looked around at them anxiously and said nothing. Frostfur glanced at the other queens before she met Yellowfang's gaze and slowly nodded her approval. Yellowfang bent her head respectfully to the white cat before addressing her new leader.

Frostfur如释重负地叹了口气，然后继续用鼻子爱抚她的孩子。 白风暴看着蓝星。 “我答应过影族，我们会让他们安静地待到下一个满月。”他解释道。 “布罗肯之星的领导让他们的氏族陷入混乱” 蓝星点点头。“这是一个明智而慷慨的提议，”她赞许地喵喵叫道。 雷族首领走过了白风暴和其余的巡逻队，走近了黄牙。 黄牙垂下眼睛，蓝星用鼻子碰了碰灰猫粗糙的皮毛。 蓝星叫道：“黄牙，我希望你代替斑点叶成为霹雳族的药猫。” “我相信你会找到她留下的所有东西的。” 其他的猫开始互相窃窃私语，兴奋地摇着尾巴。 黄牙焦急地看着他们，什么也没说。 在遇到黄牙的目光之前，霜佛瞥了其他女王一眼，慢慢点头表示赞同。 小黄牙恭敬地向白猫低下头，然后向她的新领袖讲话。

"Thank you, Bluestar. ShadowClan is not the Clan I once knew. ThunderClan is my Clan now." Firepaw felt a surge of satisfaction that the old she-cat he had come to love would be his Clan's medicine cat from now on. Then his tail dropped as he realized that he would never again find Spottedleaf in her clearing, the sunlight gleaming on her soft fur, her amber eyes shining in welcome. "Where's Ravenpaw?" meowed Bluestar suddenly, jolting Firepaw out of his bittersweet remembrances. "Yes," Tigerclaw chimed in, "where is my apprentice? Strange that he should disappear along with Brokenstar." He looked meaningfully around the Clan. "If you think he might have been helping Brokenstar," Firepaw meowed boldly, "then you are wrong!" Tigerclaw stiffened, a menacing gleam in his yellow eyes. "Ravenpaw is dead," Firepaw went on, dropping his head as if weighed down with grief. "We found his body in ShadowClan territory.

“谢谢你，蓝星。暗影氏族已经不是我曾经认识的氏族了。 ThunderClan现在是我的Clan。” 火爪感到一阵满足，他爱上的那只老母猫从此将成为他家族的药猫。 然后他的尾巴垂了下来，因为他意识到他再也找不到斑点叶了，阳光照在她柔软的皮毛上，她琥珀色的眼睛闪烁着欢迎的光芒。 “拉文爪呢？”蓝星突然叫道，把火爪从苦乐参半的回忆中惊醒过来。 “是的，”虎爪插嘴说，“我的徒弟在哪儿？ 真奇怪，他竟然和布罗肯斯塔一起消失了。” 他意味深长地环视了一下氏族。 “如果你认为他是在帮助布罗肯星，”火爪大胆地喵喵叫道，“那你就错了！”虎爪僵住了，黄色的眼睛里闪着威胁的光芒。 “拉文爪死了。”火爪继续说，低下了头，好像被悲伤压垮了。 “我们在暗影部落的地盘上发现了他的尸体。

From the scents around him, he must have been slain by a ShadowClan patrol." He looked at Bluestar. "I will tell you everything later," he promised. Yellowfang shot Firepaw a questioning look. Firepaw returned her gaze with a silent plea for her to hold her tongue. She twitched her ears briefly in understanding and looked away. "I never said that Ravenpaw was a traitor," hissed Tigerclaw. He paused and allowed an expression of sorrow to cloud his eyes before he turned to address the rest of the Clan. "Ravenpaw might have made a fine warrior. His death has come too soon, and his loss will be felt by many of us for a long time." Empty words! thought Firepaw bitterly. What would Tigerclaw say if he knew that Ravenpaw was safe, far beyond the forest, catching rats with Barley? Bluestar broke the silence. "We will miss Ravenpaw, but we shall mourn him tomorrow. First there is another ritual that must be performed—one, I know, that Ravenpaw would have taken pleasure in." She turned to Firepaw

从他周围的气味来看，他一定是被暗影家族的巡逻队杀死的。” 他看着蓝星。“我以后会把一切都告诉你的，”他保证道。 黄牙疑惑地看了火爪一眼。 火爪回敬她的目光，默默地恳求她住嘴。 她短暂地抽动了一下耳朵，表示理解，然后把目光移开。 “我从没说过拉文爪是叛徒。”虎爪嘶嘶地说。 他停顿了一下，让一种悲伤的表情笼罩着他的眼睛，然后转身向其他氏族人讲话。 “拉文爪本可以成为一名优秀的战士。 他的去世来得太快了，我们许多人将在很长一段时间内感到失去他的痛苦。” 空的话!火爪痛苦地想。 如果虎爪知道拉文爪已经安全了，正在远离森林，和巴利一起抓老鼠，他会怎么说呢？ 蓝星打破了沉默。 “我们会想念拉文爪的，但明天我们会为他哀悼。 首先，还有一个仪式必须举行——我知道，拉文爪会喜欢这个仪式的。” 她转向火爪