Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 Brambleclaw reappeared from the den with Brackenfur, Thornclaw, Cloudtail, and Rainwhisker behind him. Squirrelflight dashed across to join them. "Good luck!" Ashfur called. Squirrelflight waved her tail in farewell. Once through the thorn tunnel, she joined Brambleclaw at the head of the patrol. "Tawnypelt should be waiting where I left her," she meowed. "She can take us to Blackstar." Brambleclaw nodded. "Okay. You lead the way, then." He kept pace with her as she trotted through the trees, not racing at top speed because they had a long way to go and had to be fit to fight when they got there. "What's the plan?" Thornclaw asked. "There isn't one," Brambleclaw replied. "We'll tell Blackstar that we've come to help and are willing to do whatever he wants. If he wants us to stay, we'll work out a plan with him and his warriors."

第12章 黑莓掌从巢穴走出，身后跟着蕨毛、棘爪、云尾和雨须。 松鼠飞飞快跑过去加入他们。 “祝你们好运！” 灰毛喊道。 松鼠飞甩了甩尾巴道别。 穿过荆刺通道后，她走到巡逻队前头和黑莓掌会合。 “褐皮应该在我们分开的地方等着，”她喵喵说道。 “她能带我们去找黑星。” 黑莓掌点了点头。 “好吧。 那就由你带路。” 他跟着松鼠飞的步子在林间小跑，没有全速奔跑，因为前路还长，得留足力气，到了地方才能战斗。 “计划是什么呀？” 棘爪问道。 “我们没有计划，”黑莓掌回答。 “我们会告诉黑星，我们是来帮忙的，他让我们做什么都可以。 如果他愿意让我们留下，我们再和他还有他的武士们一起制定计划。”

Tawnypelt was sitting close to the border, crouched under a brittle clump of bracken that hid her pale fur. She sprang to her paws, relief showing in her eyes when she saw her brother and the strong force of cats he had brought with him. "See?" Squirrelflight meowed. "I told you Firestar would send help." Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt touched noses. "Take us to Blackstar," Brambleclaw meowed. Tawnypelt turned and led the way swiftly through the undergrowth, deeper into ShadowClan territory. Soon the leafless trees gave way to dark pines, shutting out most of the light, and the ground underpaw grew soft with a covering of fallen needles. They splashed through a stream, the water running cold and shallow over a stony bed, and up a gentle slope on the other side. Gradually the scent of ShadowClan grew stronger, and Squirrelflight realized they were approaching the camp. The ground sloped more steeply here, with rocks jutting out of the covering of fallen pine needles. At the top of the rise the trees grew

褐皮蹲在边境附近，躲在一丛干枯的蕨类后面，遮住了她浅淡的皮毛。 她一下子跳起身，看到哥哥带着这么多强壮的同族赶来，眼里满是欣慰。 “看到了吧？” 松鼠飞喵喵说道。 “我就说火星一定会派帮手来的。” 黑莓掌和褐皮碰了碰鼻子。 “带我们去找黑星，”黑莓掌说道。 褐皮转过身，领着大家飞快穿过灌丛，往影族领地深处走去。 没过多久，落叶的树木换成了深黑的松树，大部分光线都被挡住，脚下盖着松针的地面软软的。 他们哗啦蹚过一条小溪，溪水又冷又浅，底上铺着石头，过溪后他们走上了对岸的缓坡。 影族的气味渐渐越来越浓，松鼠飞知道他们快靠近营地了。 这里的坡变得更陡，松针覆盖的地面露出一块块岩石。 坡顶的树木长得

more thickly, guarding the edge of a wide, shallow dip almost filled with bushes. Squirrelflight recognized the place she and her friends had discovered when they first explored the territory. Back then, no cat had expected that the kittypets would be a problem, but now she wondered whether ShadowClan had made their camp too close to the Twoleg nest. Although the scent of fear and injury wafting from the camp almost took her breath away, Squirrelflight couldn't spot any cats at first. But as they waited at the edge of the hollow, branches rustled beneath them and Blackstar appeared. He climbed up in a couple of bounds, his fur bristling. "What's going on?" he demanded. "ThunderClan cats in my territory? Tawnypelt, what do you know about this?" Tawnypelt dipped her head to her Clan leader. "Squirrelflight helped me fight off one of the kittypets. I told her about the trouble they're causing, and she brought a ThunderClan patrol to help us." A growl rose in Blackstar's throat. "You told a

越来越茂密，把那片长满灌木的宽浅凹地边缘挡得严严实实。 松鼠飞认出了这里，这是她和朋友们第一次探索这片领地时发现的地方。 那时候谁都没想到宠物猫会变成麻烦，现在松鼠飞忍不住想，影族的营地是不是离两脚兽的巢穴太近了。 尽管营地飘来的恐惧和伤病的气味几乎让她喘不过气，松鼠飞一开始却没看到任何猫。 可就在他们在凹地边等候时，脚下的树枝沙沙作响，黑星出现了。 他几下就蹦了上来，全身的毛都炸了起来。 “怎么回事？”他质问道。 “雷族猫闯到我的领地上来了？ 褐皮，你说，这到底是怎么回事？” 褐皮对着自己的族长低了低头。 “松鼠飞帮我打跑了一只宠物猫。 我跟她说了宠物猫惹的麻烦，她就带雷族巡逻队来帮我们了。” 黑星的喉咙里发出一声低吼。 “你居然把

warrior from another Clan about our Clan's problems?" Tawnypelt stared at him without flinching. "I told Squirrelflight. She's a friend." "And Tawnypelt's my sister," Brambleclaw added, stepping forward to stand beside her. Blackstar gave a contemptuous sniff. "Tawnypelt's first loyalty is to her Clan—or it should be." The tortoiseshell warrior began to bristle. "Blackstar, I've never given you any reason to doubt my loyalty." The ShadowClan leader's gaze swept over the six ThunderClan cats. "You expect me to believe that, when you bring these warriors right into our camp?" "We'll turn right around and go home again if that's what you want," Thornclaw meowed. "Just say the word." "Don't be a fool, Blackstar." The voice was Cedarheart's. The gray tom heaved himself out of the cover of the bushes and scrambled up the slope to stand beside his leader. Squirrelflight saw that he was limping, and she remembered

别的族的武士说我们族的麻烦？” 褐皮直视着他，没有一丝退缩。 “我告诉松鼠飞了。 她是我的朋友。” “而且褐皮是我的妹妹，”黑莓掌补充道，迈步走到褐皮身边。 黑星轻蔑地哼了一声。 “褐皮首先要忠于自己的族群——这本来就是应该的。” 这只玳瑁武士炸起了毛。 “黑星，我从来没有做过任何让你怀疑我忠诚的事。” 影族族长的目光扫过六只雷族猫。 “你把这些武士直接带进我的营地，还让我相信你？” “如果你想让我们走，我们现在就掉头回去，”棘爪说道。 “你一句话就行。” “别犯傻了，黑星。” 说话的是杉心。 这只灰色公猫吃力地从灌木丛后钻出来，爬上坡站到族长身边。 松鼠飞看到他一瘸一拐的，她想起了

Tawnypelt telling her that the Twolegs had injured him when he went to fight the kittypets. "We can't deal with this by ourselves." "Cedarheart is right." Rowanclaw came to stand at his Clanmate's shoulder. "Those kittypets killed my apprentice. I'd welcome any cat who'd help me rip out their entrails." Blackstar hesitated for a moment, looking from one of his warriors to the other, taking in their burning gazes and bristling fur. At last he bowed his head. "Very well. Cedarheart, fetch Russetfur. We'll send a patrol with these ThunderClan warriors to the Twoleg nest. But you're not going," he added as Cedarheart retreated into the bushes. "You're not battle-fit." Cedarheart shot him a furious look, but vanished without a protest. "Blackstar, I don't think we ought to kill these kittypets," Brambleclaw meowed when he had gone. "What?" Rowanclaw spat, before his Clan leader could reply. "They killed my apprentice. I want revenge!" "And if we kill the kittypets, the Twolegs will

褐皮告诉她，之前他去找宠物猫打架的时候，被两脚兽打伤了。 "这件事我们自己处理不了。" "雪松心说得对。" 花楸爪走过来站在族伴的身侧。 "那些宠物猫杀了我的学徒。" 谁要是帮我把它们开膛破肚，我举爪欢迎。" 黑星犹豫了片刻，目光在自己两个武士身上转了一圈，看着他们燃烧的怒火和炸起的毛发。 最终他低下了头。 "好吧。 雪松心，去叫褐皮过来。 我们派一队巡逻兵跟着这些雷族武士去两脚兽的巢穴。 但是你不能去，"雪松心退进灌木丛的时候，黑星补充道。 "你还没做好战斗准备。" 雪松心狠狠瞪了他一眼，但没抗议，转身消失了。 "黑星，我觉得我们不该杀掉这些宠物猫，"黑莓掌在雪松心走后开口说道。 "什么？"花楸爪没等族长发话就愤愤开口。 "它们杀了我的学徒。 我要复仇！" "而且如果我们杀了宠物猫，两脚兽会

want revenge," Brambleclaw pointed out. "They must know you're here." "That's right." Cloudtail lashed his tail. "Twolegs have little Clans of their own." He shuddered as he added, "I was trapped in one once. If their kittypets are hurt or killed, they won't rest until they've killed you or driven you out. You saw what they did to us in the old forest. Do you want that to happen here?" "Then how do we stop their kittypets from bothering us?" Rowanclaw challenged. "Just ask them nicely?" He gave a disgusted snort. "If we could trap them, we could make them promise to stay away," Squirrelflight suggested. "Seeing all of us together should scare them out of their fur." "It's an idea," murmured Brambleclaw. Squirrelflight glanced at him, startled and pleased by his support. "It's worth a try," Blackstar decided, as his deputy Russetfur slid out of the cover of the bushes and came to join her Clanmates. Oakfur, a smaller ShadowClan tom, followed her. "Right, this is the plan," Blackstar meowed.

找我们复仇的，"黑莓掌指出。 "它们肯定知道你们在这里。" "说得对。" 云尾甩了甩尾巴。 "两脚兽也有自己的小族群。" 他抖了抖身子补充道，"我之前就被困在里面过。 如果它们的宠物猫受伤或者死掉，它们不会善罢甘休，一定会杀掉你们或者把你们赶出去才肯罢休。 你们也看到当初在旧森林它们对我们做了什么。 你们想在这里也落得同样的下场吗？" "那我们要怎么阻止宠物猫再来骚扰我们？" 花楸爪质问道。 "难道还要我们好好去跟它们说？" 他厌恶地哼了一声。 "如果我们能困住它们，就能让它们保证再也不过来，"松鼠飞提议。 "咱们这么多猫一起去，肯定能把它们吓得魂飞魄散。" "这主意不错，"黑莓掌低声说。 松鼠飞吃惊又开心地看向他，没想到他会支持自己。 "值得试一试，"黑星做出决定，此时他的副族长褐皮从灌木丛后悄步走出，来和她的族人们会合。 橡毛，一只体型较小的影族公猫，跟在她身后走出来。 "好了，计划是这样的，"黑星说。