Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 "Mouse dung!" Squirrelflight muttered. The starling she had just missed fluttered onto a branch above her head, while her empty claws sank into the moss. How was she supposed to concentrate on hunting when every waking moment was filled with worry about her sister? I should have stopped her, she thought bleakly. "Bad luck," Ashfur meowed, coming up behind her. "Should we call it a day? We've got more than enough to carry back." "Okay." Squirrelflight followed him to the place under a thornbush where he had scraped earth over their previous kills. Spiderleg joined them, a squirrel dangling from his jaws, and the hunting patrol headed back to camp. "Come on," Ashfur murmured to Squirrelflight when they had dropped their catch on the fresh-kill pile. "Leafpool will be fine." "How can she be fine, when she's left everything behind?" Squirrelflight retorted. "Why don't you rest for a while?" the gray

第二十一章 “鼠粪！” 松鼠飞低声咒骂道。 她刚扑空没抓到的椋鸟，扑棱着落到她头顶的树枝上，她空着的爪子陷进了苔藓里。 她每时每刻都在担心妹妹，哪能集中精力捕猎呢？ 我本该拦住她的，她凄凉地想。 “运气真差，”蜡毛走到她身后说道。 “要不我们今天就到此为止吧？ 我们带回去的猎物已经够多了。” “好。” 松鼠飞跟着他走到荆刺丛下，蜡毛已经把先前捕到的猎物埋在了这里的泥土下。 蛛足叼着一只松鼠走来和他们汇合，捕猎巡逻队动身返回营地。 他们把猎物放到鲜猎堆后，蜡毛轻声对松鼠飞说：“走吧。” “叶池不会有事的。” “她怎么可能没事，她都抛下一切离开了！” 松鼠飞反驳道。 “你为什么不先休息一会儿呢？” 这只灰

warrior suggested, pointing with his tail at a sunny spot near the wall of the hollow. "You hardly slept at all last night." "And I won't be able to sleep now. I'm going to make sure Cinderpelt has eaten." Squirrelflight grabbed a vole from the fresh- kill pile and padded across the clearing to the medicine cat's den. Rounding the screen of brambles, she found Cinderpelt crouched in the opening of her den with her paws tucked under her. Her blue eyes were fixed on nothing. Squirrelflight shivered; it looked as though Cinderpelt were gazing at horrors that only she could see. The medicine cat blinked and looked up at her. "Squirrelflight—is there any news?" "About Leafpool?" Squirrelflight set the vole down in front of Cinderpelt. "No, nothing. I brought you some fresh-kill." The medicine cat turned her head away. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry." "You have to eat!" Squirrelflight protested. She wondered if Cinderpelt blamed herself for Leafpool's disappearance. The medicine cat

武士提议，用尾巴指向凹地岩壁旁一块向阳的地方。 “你昨晚几乎没合眼。” “我现在也睡不着。 我去看看炭毛有没有吃东西。” 松鼠飞从鲜猎堆里叼了一只田鼠，缓步穿过空地走向巫医的巢穴。 她绕过荆棘屏障，看见炭毛蹲在巢穴入口，爪子收拢在腹下。 她的蓝眼睛定定望着空处，什么也没看。 松鼠飞不由得打了个寒颤； 看起来炭毛正盯着只有她才能看见的可怕景象。 这位巫医眨了眨眼，抬眼看她。 “松鼠飞——有什么消息吗？” “是关于叶池的吗？” 松鼠飞把田鼠放在了炭毛面前。 “没有，还没有消息。 我给你带了点新鲜猎物。” 巫医转过头去。 “谢谢，我不饿。” “你必须吃点东西！” 松鼠飞着急地劝道。 她忍不住猜测，炭毛会不会因为叶池的离开责怪自己。 这位巫医

seemed to have no courage or energy left. "We need you more than ever, now that Leafpool's gone." Cinderpelt let out a long sigh. "But I've failed. Utterly failed." "It's not your fault!" Squirrelflight wriggled into the narrow opening beside Cinderpelt so that she could press herself comfortingly against her. "You're a great medicine cat. What would ThunderClan do without you?" Cinderpelt gazed at her, a searching look that made Squirrelflight feel like she was about to drown in the blue depths of her eyes. Cinderpelt seemed to be on the verge of confiding something to her, but all she said was, "I wish things didn't have to change." "They don't have to. They won't. Leafpool will come back. We have to believe that." Cinderpelt shook her head and closed her eyes. Squirrelflight stretched out a paw and nudged the vole a bit closer to her. "Come on, you'll feel better when you've eaten." Cinderpelt hesitated, then bent down to sniff

似乎已经没有半点勇气和力气了。 “现在叶池走了，我们比任何时候都更需要你。” 炭毛长长地叹了一口气。 “可我失败了。 彻彻底底地失败了。” “这不是你的错！” 松鼠飞扭身挤进炭毛身边狭窄的入口，贴住她给她安慰。 “你是个很棒的巫医。 雷族离了你可怎么办啊？” 炭毛凝视着她，那探寻的目光让松鼠飞觉得自己快要溺进那双蓝眼睛的深处了。 炭毛眼看就要对她吐露心事，可最后只说：“我真希望一切都不用改变。” “不用变的。 不会变的。 叶池一定会回来的。 我们必须相信这一点。” 炭毛摇了摇头，闭上了眼睛。 松鼠飞伸出一只爪子，把田鼠往她面前又推近了一点。 “来吧，吃过东西你就会舒服多了。” 炭毛犹豫了片刻，接着低头闻了闻

the fresh-kill. "Squirrelflight, will you go and check on Sorreltail?" she meowed after a moment. "I'm worried about her. You know what good friends she and Leafpool were." "Does Sorreltail know what's happened?" Confined to the nursery because her kits were due any day, the young tortoiseshell warrior might not have heard the news. "Yes, I told her last night." To Squirrelflight's relief, Cinderpelt was beginning to sound more like her normal self. "She was upset, and I gave her some poppy seed to help her sleep." "Sure, I'll look in on her. On one condition— that I see you eating that vole before I go." A faint gleam of humor crept into Cinderpelt's eyes. "You never give up, do you? All right—and call me if Sorreltail needs anything." As Squirrelflight slid out of the den, the medicine cat sniffed the vole again, took a bite, and then began to eat more quickly, as if she had suddenly realized how hungry she was. Squirrelflight left her to it and headed for the nursery. Just outside, Brightheart was bending

这份新鲜猎物。 “松鼠飞，你能去看看栗尾吗？” 过了一会儿，她开口说道。 “我很担心她。 你知道她和叶池是多好的朋友。” “栗尾知道发生什么事了吗？” 栗尾因为幼崽随时会出生一直待在育婴室，这只年轻的玳瑁武士可能还没听到消息。 “是的，我昨晚告诉她了。” 让松鼠飞松了口气的是，炭毛说话终于开始像平常的她了。 “她很难过，我给了她一些罂粟籽帮她睡觉。” “没问题，我会去看看她的。 但我有个条件——我走之前你得吃掉这只田鼠。” 一丝淡淡的笑意浮现在炭毛的眼底。 “你从来都不肯放弃，对不对？ 好吧——栗尾要是有什么需要，一定要叫我。” 松鼠飞爬出巢穴的时候，巫医又闻了闻田鼠，咬了一口，接着就越吃越快，好像突然发现自己已经饿坏了。 松鼠飞留下她吃猎物，自己往育婴室走去。 刚到育婴室外，亮心正弯着

over Berrykit. She straightened up as Squirrelflight approached. "There!" she mewed. "That thorn won't bother you again. Give your paw a good lick now." "Thanks!" Berrykit looked up admiringly at the ginger and white she-cat. The horseplace cats seemed to have stopped noticing her scars. "You're the best medicine cat ever!" "I'm not a medicine cat," Brightheart corrected him, with a sidelong glance at Squirrelflight. "ThunderClan already has two medicine cats. I'll never be one." "Well, I think you are," Berrykit meowed, licking his paw vigorously. It's a pity Brightheart couldn't have said that while Leafpool was here, Squirrelflight thought. "Hi," she mewed. "Cinderpelt sent me to check on Sorreltail." "Sorreltail's fine," Brightheart told her. "She and Daisy shared a rabbit earlier, and now she's asleep again. Great StarClan, she's huge," she added. "It can't be long before she starts to kit." "That's good." Squirrelflight tried to summon

压在贝瑞崽身上。 松鼠飞走近时，她直起了身子。 "好了！" 她轻声叫道。 "那根刺不会再扎疼你了。 现在好好舔舔你的爪子哦。" "谢谢！" 贝瑞崽抬起头，崇拜地望着这只姜黄白花的母猫。 马场来的猫们好像已经不再留意她的伤疤了。 "你是全世界最好的巫医！" "我不是巫医哦，" 亮心纠正他，还斜瞥了松鼠飞一眼。 "雷族已经有两位巫医了。 我永远也成不了巫医。" "唔，我觉得你就是呀，" 贝瑞崽叫着，用力舔着自己的爪子。 真可惜叶池在这儿的时候没能听到这话，松鼠飞心想。 "嗨，" 她开口打招呼。 "炭毛派我来看看蕨尾的情况。" "蕨尾没事，" 亮心告诉她。 "她刚才和黛西分吃了一只兔子，现在又睡着了。 星族在上，她肚子可太大了，" 她补充道。 "用不了多久她就要生小猫了。" "那就好。" 松鼠飞努力提起

up enthusiasm, but she couldn't get excited about the first kits to be born in their new home when her mind was filled with worrying about Leafpool and Cinderpelt. She poked her head into the nursery and saw a tortoiseshell mound of fur sleeping peacefully among the moss and ferns. Daisy and Ferncloud were close beside the young warrior, sharing tongues and mewing softly to each other. Both of them glanced up and twitched their whiskers in greeting to Squirrelflight. Brightheart had gone by the time she backed out again; Squirrelflight caught a glimpse of her tail whisking behind the bramble screen in front of Cinderpelt's den. Trusting Brightheart to report about Sorreltail to the medicine cat, Squirrelflight headed for the fresh-kill pile to find a piece of prey. Firestar was there, sharing a squirrel with Sandstorm, while Brambleclaw devoured a thrush a tail-length away. "I want you to lead the dawn patrol tomorrow," Firestar was meowing to Brambleclaw as Squirrelflight came up. "Have a

兴致，可她满脑子都在担心叶池和炭毛，根本没办法为新家将要诞生的第一窝小猫感到开心。 她探头往育婴室里看，看见一团玳瑁色的毛团正安安静静睡在苔藓和蕨叶中间。 黛西和蕨云挨在这位年轻武士身边，互相舔着毛，轻声说着话。 她俩都抬了抬头，动动胡须向松鼠飞打招呼。 等她退出来的时候，亮心已经走了； 松鼠飞只瞥见她的尾巴在炭毛巢穴前的荆棘屏障后一闪而过。 松鼠飞放心让亮心把蕨尾的情况转告巫医，自己朝猎物堆走去，想找点吃的。 火星就在那儿，正和沙风分吃一只松鼠，黑莓掌在一尾巴远的地方大口啃着一只歌鸫。 "我要你明天带队出黎明巡逻，" 松鼠飞走近的时候，火星正对黑莓掌说。 "你去好好