Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 Sighing, Brambleclaw tucked his paws beneath his chest and gazed out over the lake again. Ever since he had returned to Tigerstar's forest in his dreams, his sleep had been uneasy. His restless thrashing had disturbed Squirrelflight and the rest of the warriors, crowded together in what had been salvaged of their den. So he had taken to slipping out at night to keep watch by the lake, to give his Clanmates a bit of peace. It had been a shock when Leafpool disturbed him. However much the young medicine cat denied it, he was convinced that she had followed him. Did that mean she knew where he went in his dreams? Like her sister, she wouldn't understand that he could visit Tigerstar and still be loyal to his Clan. He tried to tell himself that his meetings with Tigerstar did no harm to any cat, but he was beginning to wonder whether he should go on visiting the shadowy forest. He was afraid of what Leafpool might know and more afraid still that she would tell Squirrelflight. The sisters were so close, it was hard to believe that

第八章 黑莓掌叹了口气，把爪子收在胸口，再次望向湖面。 自从他在梦里来到虎星的森林后，就一直睡不安稳。 他翻来覆去躁动不安，打扰了松鼠飞和其他挤在残存窝舍里的武士们。 所以他索性夜里溜出来到湖边放哨，好让族友们能清净一会儿。 叶池惊扰到他时，他吓了一大跳。 不管这名年轻巫医如何否认，他都笃定对方是跟着自己来的。 这是不是意味着她知道自己梦中去了哪里？ 和她姐姐一样，她不会明白，哪怕自己去见虎星，也依然对族群忠心。 他试着告诉自己，他和虎星见面不会伤害任何猫，可他已经开始怀疑，自己该不该继续造访那片阴森林。 他害怕叶池知情，更害怕她会把这件事告诉松鼠飞。 姐妹俩那么亲密，很难相信

Leafpool would keep any secrets from her. Narrowing his eyes, Brambleclaw peered across the lake. In the dawn light he could just make out the Twoleg boats clustered around the half-bridge on the opposite side, on the border between RiverClan and ShadowClan. Just as Daisy had said, the Twolegs had stayed there so far, but Brambleclaw couldn't stop worrying that sooner or later they would invade ThunderClan territory. The growing daylight glimmered on the surface of the water. He remembered what Squirrelflight had told him about Leafpool's vision of their entwined paw prints, and his fur prickled. He wished he had the power of a medicine cat, to read the future in the lake, but to him the reflections of the stars were nothing more than meaningless sparkles on the indigo water: beautiful, but telling him nothing. Does my future really lie in the paws of StarClan? he wondered. No starry warriors walked the paths of Tigerstar's forest. Was he turning his back on them by visiting his father? Did they know? At last he slipped into a doze again and woke

叶池会对她姐姐隐瞒任何秘密。 黑莓掌眯起眼睛，眺望湖的对岸。 晨光里，他刚好能分辨出对岸、河族与影族边界的半桥边挤着的两脚兽小船。 就像黛西说的，两脚兽目前一直待在那里，可黑莓掌忍不住担心，他们迟早会入侵雷族领地。 渐亮的天光在水面上闪着微光。 他想起松鼠飞跟他说过叶池看到他俩爪印交叠的幻象，不由得浑身发毛。 他多希望自己拥有巫医的能力，能从湖中预知未来，可对他来说，星辰的倒影不过是靛蓝水面上毫无意义的闪光：好看，却什么信息都没法给他。 我的未来真的掌握在星族的爪中吗？ 他暗忖道。 没有星族武士踏足过虎星的森林。 他造访父亲，是不是就是背弃了星族？ 他们知道这件事吗？ 最后他再次昏昏欲睡，醒来时

to the sound of birdsong. The sun was rising over the hills behind WindClan. Brambleclaw sprang to his paws. He hadn't meant to stay out so long. A cat who wanted to be deputy didn't wander out of the hollow in the night! He headed back to camp, pausing to hunt on the way so that by the time he approached the thorn barrier his jaws were filled with prey. He was about to enter the tunnel when an eerie wailing rose up from inside the camp, freezing Brambleclaw's paws to the spot. Had the badgers come back? A heartbeat's thought told him that wasn't possible. The patrols hadn't found any sign of badgers in the territory since the attack, and the thorns in front of him were undamaged. Then the cry came again, more clearly. "My kit! Where's my kit?" Brambleclaw squeezed through the tunnel and into the camp. Daisy was standing outside the nursery, her fur bristling. Cloudtail was with her and two of her kits were peering out of the entrance, their eyes wide with alarm. Leafpool was hurrying across the clearing from her den,

耳边满是鸟鸣声。 太阳正从风族后方的山丘升起。 黑莓掌一下子跳起身。 他没打算在外面待这么久。 想要当副族长的猫才不会夜里乱跑离开营地山谷！ 他往营地走去，路上顺便捕猎，等他走到荆刺围栏边时，嘴里已经叼着猎物了。 他正要进通道，营地里突然传出凄厉的哀嚎，吓得黑莓掌一下子钉在了原地。 是獾又来了吗？ 他转念一想，觉得这不可能。 自从上次袭击后，巡逻队在领地没发现任何獾的踪迹，而且眼前的荆刺也完好无损。 接着哀嚎声再次传来，听得更清楚了。 "我的孩子！ 我的孩子在哪儿！" 黑莓掌挤过通道进到营地里。 黛西站在育婴室门外，浑身的毛都炸了起来。 云尾陪在她身边，另外两个幼崽从入口探出头来，眼睛里满是惊恐。 叶池正从自己的巢穴快步走向营地空地,

with Brightheart hard on her paws. Brambleclaw dropped his fresh-kill on the pile and bounded across. "I've looked everywhere!" Daisy wailed. "He's not here. Oh, Berrykit, where are you?" Anxiety stabbed at Brambleclaw. Berrykit had always been the liveliest kit of the litter, and the most likely to get into mischief. It was all too easy to imagine him sneaking out of camp in search of an adventure. "When did you last see him?" Cloudtail asked Daisy. "Last night. When I woke up this morning, he had vanished. I've searched and searched, but he isn't anywhere in the camp!" "Calm down," Brightheart meowed. "Wailing like that won't help, and you'll upset Sorreltail. We'll find Berrykit." Daisy ignored her. "A badger's eaten him! I know it has." Brightheart rolled her good eye, and even Leafpool twitched her whiskers impatiently. "Daisy, you know there hasn't been any trace of badgers around here for days. Berrykit has

亮心紧紧跟在她身后。 黑莓掌把猎物丢到猎物堆上，快步奔了过去。 "我到处都找遍了！" 黛西哭喊道。 "他不在这里。 哦，贝瑞基特，你在哪儿呀？" 焦虑揪紧了黑莓掌的心。 贝瑞基特一向是这窝幼崽里最活泼的，也最容易闯祸。 完全能想象他偷偷溜出营地找刺激的样子。 "你最后一次见他是什么时候？" 云尾问黛西。 "昨天晚上。 我今天早上醒来，他就不见了。 我找了一遍又一遍，营地里哪儿都没有他！" "冷静点，"亮心开口说。 "这么哭没用的，还会吓到栗尾。 我们一定会找到贝瑞基特的。" 黛西没理她。 "是獾吃了他！ 肯定是这样！" 亮心翻了个那只好眼，连叶池都不耐烦地抽动了下胡须。 "黛西，你知道这好几天这儿都没獾的踪迹了。 贝瑞基特就是

wandered off somewhere, but we'll track him and bring him back." By now more cats had begun to emerge, drawn from their dens by Daisy's yowling. Firestar leaped down the tumbled rocks from the Highledge, and padded over to Brambleclaw. "What's going on?" Brambleclaw explained rapidly. "We'll send a patrol out," Firestar decided. "Cloudtail, you can lead it. Pick two or three other cats and go at once." "Oh, no, no!" Daisy wound her tail around Cloudtail's neck. "I need you to stay with me. What if my other kits go missing too?" Brightheart let out a hiss of annoyance and turned away. Brambleclaw couldn't blame her. Hazelkit and Mousekit looked too scared to set a paw outside the nursery, let alone the camp. He could understand how upset Daisy must feel, but she didn't have to make this amount of fuss. Cloudtail was looking embarrassed, but he didn't try to tell Daisy that no cat countermanded the Clan leader's orders. "Hazelkit and Mousekit aren't going

跑到别处去了，但我们会找到他，把他带回来。” 这会儿，黛西的号叫把更多猫从窝里引了出来。 火星从高岩的乱石堆上跃下，轻步走到黑莓掌身旁。 “出什么事了？” 黑莓掌飞快说明了情况。 “我们派一支巡逻队出去，”火星决定道。 “云尾，你来带队。 再挑两三个同伴，立刻出发。” “哦，不，不要！” 黛西把尾巴缠在了云尾的脖子上。 “我需要你留在我身边。 要是我的其他幼崽也不见了怎么办？” 亮心恼火地哈了一声，转身走开了。 黑莓掌并不怪她。 榛崽和鼠崽吓得连育婴室门口都不敢出，更别说离开营地了。 他能理解黛西有多难过，但她也没必要这么小题大做。 云尾看上去十分尴尬，但他并没有告诉黛西，从来没有猫会违抗族长的命令。 “榛崽和鼠崽才不会去

anywhere," Leafpool mewed calmly. "Cloudtail, take Daisy into the nursery. I'll fetch her some poppy seed to calm her down." "And I'll lead the patrol," Brambleclaw offered. Firestar nodded and watched as Cloudtail disengaged himself from Daisy's tail and nudged her back to the nursery. Brambleclaw signaled to Squirrelflight, who was standing a tail-length away with Stormfur and Brook. "Let's go," he meowed. "I'll skin the little wretch when we find him, upsetting the camp like this." "No, you won't." Squirrelflight flicked his shoulder with her tail. "You're as worried as the rest of us that he might be frightened or hurt." Brambleclaw grunted. For all his fierce words, he couldn't deny a sneaking admiration for Berrykit's latest escapade. It took a lot of courage for a kit to venture out alone into the forest, especially after seeing the badger attack. "The sooner he's apprenticed, the better," he muttered, adding silently, And I'd be more than happy to be his mentor.

去哪儿，”叶池平静地说道。 “云尾，带黛西回育婴室。 我去拿些罂粟籽给她，让她冷静下来。” “巡逻队我来带队，”黑莓掌主动请缨。 火星点点头，看着云尾从黛西的尾巴缠绕里挣脱，把她轻推回育婴室。 黑莓掌向松鼠飞示意，她正站在一条尾巴远的地方，和暴毛、溪儿在一起。 “我们走，”他说道。 “等找到这个小淘气，我饶不了他，居然把营地搅成这样。” “才不会呢。” 松鼠飞用尾巴轻拍了拍他的肩膀。 “你和我们大家一样，都担心他会受惊或是受伤。” 黑莓掌哼了一声。 别看他话说得凶，他不得不承认，悄悄佩服着莓崽这次的大胆出逃。 一只幼崽敢独自闯进森林，这需要很大的勇气，尤其是在见过獾的袭击之后。 “他越早成为学徒越好，”他低声嘟囔着，心里又默默补充：我非常乐意当他的导师。