Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 Clouds covered the sun the next morning as the patrol set off to find their way back to the lake. Heading in what they thought was the right direction, Brambleclaw stopped short when he smelled scent markers, and spotted the walls of the Twoleg nest through the trees. "Yuck!" Squirrelflight's lip curled. "That's worse than fox dung. Those kittypets must have marked their territory." The patrol skirted the markers warily; to Brambleclaw's relief there was no sign of the hostile kittypets. With the nest in view, he could remember which way they had approached it the night before, and it was not long before they crossed their earlier scent trail. "This way!" Brambleclaw meowed. A chill wind shook the tops of the pines, and as they reached the shore the cats felt the full force of it. Brambleclaw turned to face it, the cold blast flattening his fur against his sides. He guessed they had traveled about halfway around

第四章 第二天早晨，巡逻队出发找返回湖边的路时，乌云遮住了太阳。 他们朝着自认正确的方向前进，棘爪闻到气味标记后猛地停步，透过树丛看见了两脚兽巢穴的围墙。 “呸！” 松鼠飞皱起了嘴唇。 “这比狐狸屎还难闻。 肯定是那些宠物猫标记了它们的领地。” 巡逻队小心翼翼地绕开了标记； 让棘爪松了口气的是，他们没见到那些充满敌意的宠物猫的踪迹。 看清巢穴位置后，他想起前一晚过来的方向，没过多久他们就找到了之前留下的气味痕迹。 “这边走！” 棘爪喵声道。 寒风摇撼着松树顶，当他们抵达岸边，群猫真切感受到了狂风的威力。 棘爪转过身迎风站着，刺骨的狂风把他的毛紧紧贴在了身侧。 他猜测他们已经绕着走了大约一半的

the lake. Looking back the way they had come, he could see the dark smudge of the island against a background of pale green hills. The surface of the lake was gray and choppy, under clouds that bulged with rain. "Just what we need!" Tawnypelt grumbled, tucking her nose into her chest. Waving his tail for the rest to follow him, Brambleclaw retraced his steps into the trees. "I think we should stay under cover," he suggested. "It's more sheltered here." "Just as long as we don't get lost again," Mistyfoot warned. "Let's stay where we can see the lake." The others were all happy to get out of the icy wind. They moved off, keeping the lake in sight through the outlying trees but not venturing onto the open shore. They had not gone far before Crowfeather let out a muffled grunt and streaked off with his tail streaming behind him. Staring after him, Brambleclaw scented squirrel before he spotted the gray-furred creature nibbling a pinecone at the foot of one of the trees. Its ears flicked up in

湖。 回头望向来时的路，他能看到浅绿色山丘衬托下，岛屿那团深色的轮廓。 湖面灰蒙蒙的，波浪翻涌，积雨云沉甸甸地压在天空。 “这下可好了！” 褐皮抱怨着，把鼻子缩到了胸口。 棘爪晃了晃尾巴示意大家跟上，沿原路走回了树林里。 “我觉得我们应该躲在遮蔽处，”他提议道。 “这里更挡风。” “只要别再迷路就好，”雾脚提醒道。 “我们要待在能看见湖的地方。” 其他猫都乐得躲开刺骨的寒风。 他们出发了，透过外围的树林始终能看见湖，没有贸然走到开阔的岸边。 没走多远，鸦羽发出一声闷哼，尾巴绷直在身后，嗖地冲了出去。 棘爪盯着他的背影，先闻到了松鼠的气味，才看到那只灰毛小动物在一棵树下啃松果。 它的耳朵一下子

alarm as Crowfeather raced toward it. Dropping the pinecone, it sprang for the safety of the tree. But Crowfeather was faster. With a mighty leap he grabbed the squirrel's tail and pulled it back to the ground. He padded back with the limp body dangling from his jaws. "Good catch!" Squirrelflight meowed. Crowfeather nodded as he dropped the fresh- kill in front of them. "Come on; let's eat." Crouching beside the others to eat his share, Brambleclaw itched with impatience to get moving again. The leaders expected them home by nightfall to report what they had discovered, and they still had a lot of territory to explore— and two Clans still needed homes. "Let's go," he meowed as soon as they had finished. To his relief, Mistyfoot didn't protest, just swiped her tongue around her jaws and kept pace with him as he set off through the trees at a steady trot. Brambleclaw's paws tingled with excitement. This could be the day when they found ThunderClan's new home! RiverClan and ShadowClan had already found good places, and

警觉地竖起来，这时鸦羽已经朝它冲过去了。 松鼠丢下松果，猛地往树上窜，想要逃命。 可鸦羽更快一步。 他奋力一跃，咬住松鼠的尾巴，把它拽回了地面。 他缓步走回来，松松鼠软软的身体挂在他的嘴边。 “抓得好！” 松鼠飞喵道。 鸦羽点点头，把新鲜的猎物放在他们面前。 “来吧，咱们吃东西。” 棘爪蹲在大伙身边吃自己的份额，心里急着想要继续赶路。 族长们要求他们天黑前回去汇报发现，还有很多领地没探索，而且还有两个族没找到新家呢。 “走吧，”他们刚吃完，棘爪就开口了。 让他安心的是，雾脚没有反对，只是舔了舔嘴巴，跟着他稳稳快步穿过树林。 棘爪的爪子因为兴奋微微发麻。 今天说不定就能找到雷族的新家了！ 河族和影族已经找到合适的地盘了，而且

he guessed that the ridge of hills across the lake would suit WindClan. But deep down, finding somewhere for his Clanmates to live and hunt safely was what he wanted most of all. Their home in the forest had suited them so well, in spite of being close to the Thunderpath and Twolegplace. Would they find anywhere nearly as good here? As if she could read his thoughts, his sister, Tawnypelt, padded up beside him and touched her muzzle briefly to his side. "Worried about something?" she mewed. "I'm okay," he told her, trying hard to convince himself. "I'll just be happier when we've found some territory for ThunderClan." "There's a long way to go yet," Tawnypelt mewed encouragingly. Soon they came to a wide path winding through the trees. The pine-needle cover gave way to short grass; regular dents in it had filled with water to form small pools. "Horses have been along here," Crowfeather mewed, lapping at one of the puddles. Tawnypelt tasted the air. "Twolegs, too. But

他猜湖对岸的山脊很适合风族居住。 但在心底，给族猫们找一处能安全生活捕猎的地方，是他最迫切的心愿。 他们原先森林里的家其实很好，哪怕靠近雷路和两脚兽地盘。 他们能在这儿找到这么好的地方吗？ 褐皮好像看穿了他的心思，轻轻走到他身边，用鼻子碰了碰他的侧腹。 “你在担心什么吗？”她喵声道。 “我没事，”他告诉她，努力说服自己。 “等到我们找到雷族的领地，我才会真的安心。” “我们还有很长的路要走呢，”褐皮鼓励道。 很快他们来到一条蜿蜒穿过树林的宽路。 松针地面变成了短草地； 地上规则的凹坑积满了水，形成一个个小水洼。 “马来过这里，”鸦羽一边说，一边舔着水洼里的水。 褐皮嗅了嗅空气里的味道。 “还有两脚兽， 不过

there's no sign of them now." Mistyfoot was gazing up at a tree close to the edge of the path. "That's a Twoleg thing," she reported, flicking her tail at something above her head. Brambleclaw looked where she was pointing. A round shape made of something hard and shiny had been fastened to the tree. It was bright blue, the same glittering color as some of the monsters on the Thunderpath. "What do you think it's for?" Squirrelflight asked. "Maybe it's like a Twoleg scent marking," Brambleclaw suggested. "This path could be a boundary between two territories." There seemed nothing dangerous about the mark, but all the cats looked around warily as they crossed the path. Brambleclaw reminded himself crossly that he never used to be this scared of Twolegs. Not until they brought their monsters to the forest and shut up all the cats they could catch in small Twoleg dens. Now he wondered whether he would ever feel safe around Twolegs again, and he let out a sigh of

现在已经找不到它们的踪迹啦。” 雾脚正抬头凝视着靠近路边的一棵树。 “这是两脚兽的东西，”她说道，冲头顶的什么东西甩了甩尾巴。 黑莓掌顺着她指的方向看去。 一块又硬又亮的圆形物件被固定在了树上。 它是鲜亮的蓝色，和雷路上那些怪兽的闪光颜色一模一样。 “你觉得这是做什么用的？” 松鼠飞问道。 “说不定这就像两脚兽的气味标记，”黑莓掌猜测道。 “这条小路说不定就是两片领地的边界。” 这个标记看起来一点都不危险，可所有猫穿过小路的时候，还是都警惕地环顾四周。 黑莓掌生气地提醒自己，他以前可不会这么害怕两脚兽。 自从他们把怪兽带进森林，把能抓到的猫全都关在小小的两脚兽窝里之后。 此刻他不禁疑惑，自己究竟还能不能在两脚兽身边感到安心，不由得长出了一口

relief when they reached the shelter of the trees on the other side. Gradually the pine trees began to thin out. Cold rain began to fall, billowing over the cats as the wind rattled the branches above them, sending a prickly shower of pine needles onto their heads. "I'd give anything for a nice warm den!" Squirrelflight grumbled, flicking raindrops from her ears. Heads down, they plodded on until the trees stopped altogether, giving way to a broad, straight-edged grassy clearing. At the edge of the wood they crossed another Twoleg path, narrower than the first, the grass worn away by many feet. By now everything was so wet that no cat could pick up a scent; all Brambleclaw could be sure of was that no Twolegs were there now. "There's another one of those halfbridges," he mewed, pricking his ears toward the wooden structure that jutted out into the lake. Squirrelflight didn't seem keen on venturing onto it when billows of icy rain scudded across the surface of the lake and rattled against the wood.

松气，等到他们走到对岸，躲进树荫的庇护下时。 渐渐地，前方的松树林变得越来越稀疏。 冷雨飘落，大风刮得头顶树枝哗哗作响，雨幕裹住猫咪们，还把松针抖落在它们头顶，扎得痒痒的。 “我不惜一切都想住进暖和舒服的窝里啊！” 松鼠飞抱怨着，抖掉了耳朵上的雨滴。 它们低着头费力往前走，直到树林彻底消失，眼前出现了一片宽阔平整的草坪空地。 在树林边缘，它们又走过一条两脚兽的小路，这条路比第一条窄，草早就被无数脚步踩没了。 这会儿所有东西都湿透了，没有一只猫能闻出任何气味； 黑莓掌唯一能确定的，就是现在这儿没有两脚兽。 “那儿还有一座半桥，”他说着，朝那座伸进湖里的木建筑竖起了耳朵。 冰冷的雨浪扫过湖面，噼里啪啦打在木板上，松鼠飞看起来不太敢上去冒险。