Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 The full moon floated high in the sky as Brambleclaw leaped off the end of the tree- bridge and onto the island. The mingled scents of many cats surrounded him, and he realized that the ThunderClan warriors were the last to arrive at the Gathering. Firestar was already racing away from the shore, signaling with his tail for his warriors to follow. Brambleclaw bounded after him, along with Squirrelflight and Dustpelt and the other ThunderClan cats. Flattening himself to the ground, he thrust his way through the thick barrier of bushes and into the moonlit clearing dappled by the spreading branches of the Great Oak. The tree was in full leaf now; Brambleclaw spotted patches of white fur where Blackstar crouched half hidden on a branch, and the gleam of bright eyes where Leopardstar gazed down on the cats below. Firestar padded up to the roots and nodded to Onestar, before the two remaining leaders clawed their way up the trunk and took

第11章 当黑莓掌跳下树桥登上小岛时，满月正高高飘浮在夜空。 混杂的群猫气味将他包围，他这才反应过来雷族武士是最后赶到森林大会的。 火星已经快步跑离岸边，晃着尾巴示意族里的武士跟上。 黑莓掌跟着他奔去，同行的还有松鼠飞、尘毛和其他雷族猫。 他伏低身体贴紧地面，挤过浓密的灌木丛屏障，走进洒满月光、被大橡树舒展枝桠投下光斑的空地。 这棵树现在已经长满了茂密的绿叶； 黑莓掌瞥见一片白毛，那是黑星蹲在半掩的枝桠上，还有豹星俯视下方群猫时闪闪发亮的眼睛。 火星走到树根边，向一星点头示意，剩下两位族长接着也攀着树干爬上去，找到

their places in the branches. Almost as soon as he set paw in the clearing, Brambleclaw was aware of a strange tension around him. Cats from other Clans were staring at the ThunderClan warriors as if they were judging them with new eyes; he caught a few murmurs, commenting on the wounds that were still visible on their pelts. Brambleclaw looked around, hoping to see Stormfur and Brook. He spotted Mistyfoot, the RiverClan deputy, and skirted a group of excited apprentices to sit beside her. "Hi, there," he meowed. "How's the prey running in RiverClan?" "Fine," Mistyfoot replied. "I hear you had trouble with badgers?" Brambleclaw nodded, not really wanting to discuss the attack. "How are Stormfur and Brook? Are they here tonight?" Mistyfoot shook her head. "Leopardstar didn't choose them to come, but they're both okay. It's good to see Stormfur again." Her blue eyes shone; Brambleclaw knew that her brother, Stonefur, had mentored Stormfur, while Mistyfoot had been his sister Feathertail's mentor. "I'm sorry

自己在枝桠上的位置。 黑莓掌刚踏入空地，就察觉到周围弥漫着一股奇怪的紧张感。 其他族群的猫都盯着雷族武士，像是在用新的眼光评判他们； 他听到几句低语，议论着他们皮毛上还清晰可见的伤口。 黑莓掌环顾四周，想要找到暴毛和溪儿。 他看见了河族副族长雾脚，于是绕开一群兴奋的学徒，坐到了她身边。 “嗨，你好呀，”他出声招呼。 “河族最近猎物好抓吗？” “挺好的，”雾脚回答。 “我听说你们被獾袭击，出了不小的事？” 黑莓掌点了点头，其实并不想聊起这场袭击。 “暴毛和溪儿还好吗？ 他们今晚来了吗？” 雾脚摇了摇头。 “豹星没选他们来，但他俩都没事。 能再见到暴毛真的很好。” 她的蓝眼睛闪着光； 黑莓掌知道，雾脚的哥哥石毛曾是暴毛的导师，而雾脚自己是暴毛姐姐羽尾的导师。 “我很遗憾

he's only staying for a short time," she added. Brambleclaw was surprised. Stormfur and Brook had spoken as if they meant to stay in RiverClan for good. They had clearly said something different to the RiverClan cats. Perhaps their welcome hadn't been as warm as Stormfur expected; the fact that they hadn't been chosen to come to the Gathering suggested that too. "Are they leaving soon?" he asked. "I don't know exactly when," Mistyfoot mewed. "But I'm sure they'll want to go back to the Tribe eventually, won't they?" She dipped her head to Brambleclaw and walked away to take her place on the roots of the tree beside Russetfur and Ashfoot, the ShadowClan and WindClan deputies. Brambleclaw's belly tightened as he looked at the space beside them, yet another reminder that ThunderClan had no deputy to stand with the others. "Hi." Brambleclaw jumped. With his eyes fixed hungrily on the three deputies, he hadn't noticed

他只能待很短一段时间，”她补充道。 黑莓掌吃了一惊。 暴毛和溪儿之前说的，就像他们打算永远留在河族了。 显然他们对河族猫说了不一样的话。 或许他们受到的欢迎并没有暴毛预想的那么热情； 他们没被选来参加森林大会这件事，也说明了这一点。 “他们很快就要离开了吗？”他问。 “我不清楚具体什么时候，”雾脚说。 “但我肯定他们最终还是要回到部落去的，对不对？” 她朝黑莓掌点了点头，走开去找自己的位置，坐到了影族副族长赤毛和风族副族长灰足身旁的树根边。 黑莓掌看向她们身边的空位，肚子不由得绷紧——这又一次提醒他，雷族已经没有副族长能和其他族的副族长站在一起了。 “嗨。” 黑莓掌吓了一跳。 他一直紧盯着那三位副族长，根本没注意到

his sister, Tawnypelt, pad over to sit beside him. "Hi," he mewed. "How are you?" "I'm fine—but what about you?" The tortoiseshell she-cat sounded sympathetic. "I was really sorry to hear about the trouble you had with badgers." "I'm perfectly okay, and so is the rest of the Clan." Brambleclaw spoke sharply; although Tawnypelt was his sister, she was a ShadowClan warrior too, and he wanted to make it quite clear that ThunderClan was strong. "We'd be even better if Leafpool hadn't been so quick to tell her medicine cat friends about how much trouble we're in." Tawnypelt looked puzzled. "Leafpool?" "She told Littlecloud when they met at the Moonpool." "But ShadowClan didn't hear the news from him," Tawnypelt meowed. "He never even mentioned it." "Where did you hear it, then?" "Hawkfrost told Russetfur and Cedarheart when they saw each other patrolling the RiverClan border," Tawnypelt explained.

他的姐姐褐皮，已经走过来坐在了他身边。 “嗨，”他回应道。 “你还好吗？” “我挺好的——可你怎么样呢？” 这只玳瑁色母猫的语气充满了同情。 “听说你们遭獾袭击出了事，我真的很难过。” “我一点事都没有，全族也都好好的。” 黑莓掌的语气很冲； 虽然褐皮是他的姐姐，但她也是影族的武士，他必须说清楚，雷族依旧强大。 “要是叶池没那么快把我们的困境告诉她的巫医朋友，我们的处境还会更好。” 褐皮一脸困惑。 “叶池？” “她在月亮池见面的时候告诉了小云。” “但影族不是从小云那儿听到这个消息的，”褐皮说。 “他提都没提过这件事。” “那你是从哪儿听到的？” “鹰霜在河族边界巡逻碰面的时候，告诉了赤毛和杉心，”褐皮解释道。

Brambleclaw stared at her in surprise. How had Hawkfrost known about the badger attack, when Mothwing hadn't been at the Moonpool meeting to hear Leafpool's news? Then icy claws gripped him: he had told Hawkfrost himself, in the dark forest with Tigerstar. Guilt swept over him. What was worse, he couldn't even apologize to Leafpool for accusing her, because then he'd have to explain what had really happened. "Hawkfrost said he was just worried," Tawnypelt went on. "He wanted to know if our warriors had seen any ThunderClan cats and if you were badly wounded. He knew the badgers must have done serious damage." Brambleclaw nodded distractedly. He needed to think this out. Were Hawkfrost's questions really prompted by concern, or could he have some other motive for passing on the news to ShadowClan? He must have known how Blackstar would react. He spotted Hawkfrost sitting with a group of RiverClan warriors, but before he could say good-bye to Tawnypelt and make his way over to him, Firestar yowled from the tree to start the meeting.

黑莓掌惊讶地盯着她。 蛾翅没去月池参加会议，没听过叶池的消息，鹰霜怎么会知道獾群袭击的事？ 突然一股寒意攫住了他：这件事是他自己告诉鹰霜的，就在黑森林和虎星在一起的时候。 愧疚瞬间淹没了他。 更糟的是，他根本没法为指责叶池的事向她道歉，因为道歉就得说出真正发生了什么。 "鹰霜说他只是很担心，" 褐皮继续说道。 "他想知道我们族的武士有没有见过雷族猫，你伤得重不重。 他知道獾群肯定造成了很大损失。" 黑莓掌心不在焉地点点头。 他得好好理一理这件事。 鹰霜打听这些真的是出于关心吗，还是他把消息传给影族有别的目的？ 他肯定早就知道黑星会是什么反应。 他看见鹰霜和一群河族武士坐在一起，可他还没来得及跟褐皮道别走过去，火星就在树上叫大家开会了。

Silence spread through the clearing and all the cats turned to face the Great Oak, their eyes glimmering in the moonlight. "Leopardstar, will you speak first?" Firestar offered. The RiverClan leader rose to her paws, her dappled fur still half hidden by the leaves. "RiverClan has had an outbreak of greencough," she began. "Our elder Heavystep died, but thank StarClan no other cats were infected." A murmur of sympathy spread throughout the clearing. Brambleclaw spotted Leafpool sitting beside Squirrelflight, and wondered why the young medicine cat looked so stricken. Surely she had no particular reason to grieve for a RiverClan elder? "I have better news too," Leopardstar continued when the comments had died away. "Our medicine cat, Mothwing, has taken Willowpaw as an apprentice." The golden tabby was sitting not far from the tree roots; Brambleclaw guessed that the small gray cat beside her must be the new apprentice. Willowpaw's green eyes shone with excitement,

空地瞬间安静下来，所有猫都转过身面对大橡树，眼睛在月光下闪闪发亮。 "豹星，你先来说说？" 火星率先开口。 这位河族族长站起身来，斑驳的皮毛大半还藏在树叶阴影里。 "河族爆发了绿咳症，" 她开口道。 "我们的族长辈重步去世了，感谢星族，没有别的猫被传染。" 一阵同情的低语传遍了空地。 黑莓掌看见叶池坐在松鼠飞身边，他很奇怪为什么这个年轻巫医看起来这么难过。 难道她有什么特别的理由要为一位河族长老悲伤吗？ "我还有个好消息，" 等议论声平息后，豹星继续说道。 "我们的巫医蛾翅收了柳爪当学徒。" 那只金棕色猫就坐在离树根不远的地方； 黑莓掌猜，她身边那只小灰猫肯定就是新学徒了。 柳爪的绿眼睛兴奋地闪闪发光，