Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 Hollypaw stared in amazement. Graystripe? "But he's dead!" she hissed to Lionpaw. Her brother did not reply. He was too busy trying to balance on his hind legs to get a better view. Hollypaw ducked down and wove among the legs of the Clan cats until she reached the edge and peeped out between the pelts of Crowfeather and Breezepaw. A gray tom with a stripe of darker fur along his spine stood in front of the bracken. His pelt clung to bone and wasted muscle, the fur matted and dull. His left ear was torn, and there were whiskers missing from his scratched and filthy muzzle. Beside him shivered a light gray tabby she-cat. Her short fur stuck out in clumps, and her tail hung limp and bedraggled. But Graystripe's dead! "You're alive!" Firestar burst out from between Onestar and Tornear. He faced Graystripe round- eyed, his fur on end.

第十一章 冬青爪惊讶地瞪大了眼睛。 是灰条？ "可他明明已经死了！" 她对着狮爪低声说。 她的哥哥没有答话。 他正忙着用后腿站稳，好看得更清楚些。 冬青爪弯下腰，在族群猫的腿缝里穿梭，走到队伍边缘，从鸦羽和风爪的皮毛缝隙间偷望出去。 一只沿着脊柱长着深条纹的灰公猫站在蕨丛前。 他的皮毛紧贴着嶙峋的骨头和枯瘦的肌肉，毛发乱成一团，毫无光泽。 他的左耳被撕破了，抓伤又脏污的口鼻上缺了好几根胡须。 他身旁站着一只浅灰色虎斑母猫，正不停发抖。 她的短毛一簇一簇翘起来，尾巴软塌塌垂着，狼狈不堪。 可灰条明明已经死了啊！ "你还活着！" 火星从一星和鹿毛之间冲了出来。 他睁圆了眼睛看向灰条，浑身的毛都炸了起来。

Graystripe stared back. His companion flattened her ears and lifted her front paw defensively. She was trembling, her eyes bright with fear as she tried to look at all the cats at once. "Easy now, Millie," Graystripe cautioned. Firestar stretched his muzzle forward, sniffing tentatively, as though he could hardly believe what he saw. "The Twolegs didn't kill you...." He lifted his face to the moon. "Thank StarClan," he whispered. Startled mews erupted among the watching cats. "Graystripe's come back!" "He must have escaped from the Twolegs!" "How did he survive?" "What about Brambleclaw?" What about Brambleclaw? Hollypaw looked at her father. Firestar had held a vigil for Graystripe as he would for any dead Clanmate, and made Brambleclaw his deputy instead. But Graystripe was alive, and now he had come back.... The ThunderClan deputy was staring at Graystripe. "I can hardly believe that you found

灰条也回望着他。 他的同伴压平耳朵，防御似的抬起了前爪。 她浑身发抖，眼睛里满是恐惧，想同时看清所有围过来的猫。 "放松点，米莉。"灰条提醒她。 火星把鼻子往前伸，试探着嗅了嗅，好像不敢相信自己眼前的一切。 "两脚兽没有杀你……" 他抬起脸望向月亮。 "感谢星族。"他轻声说道。 围观的猫群里发出一阵惊讶的叫声。 "灰条回来了！" "他一定是从两脚兽手里逃出来了！" "他居然活了下来？" "那黑莓掌怎么办？" 那黑莓掌怎么办？ 冬青爪看向自己的父亲。 火星已经像对待所有死去的族猫一样，为灰条守了夜，还让黑莓掌当了副族长。 可灰条还活着，现在他回来了…… 这位雷族副族长正盯着灰条。 "我简直不敢相信你们竟然找到

us." His voice was filled with admiration, but his gaze glittered uneasily as he stepped forward and brushed muzzles with the gray warrior. Firestar flicked his tail. "Where did they take you?" Graystripe didn't answer. He was staring at Firestar. "So you didn't wait for me." Pain flashed in Firestar's eyes. "I couldn't." Graystripe dipped his head. "You could not risk the Clan by keeping them in the forest." Firestar leaned forward. "If it had been only my life at stake"—he glanced around the Clans, then lowered his voice—"I would have waited." Hollypaw felt a rustling behind her. The other ThunderClan warriors were pushing their way forward to greet their old denmate. "Graystripe!" Dustpelt dashed over. "You're alive!" Berrypaw, Hazelpaw, Ashfur, and Spiderleg crowded excitedly around, sniffing his fur, poking him with their muzzles. Graystripe flinched away. "Give him some space," Leafpool warned. "He's exhausted."

我们。" 他的语气满是感慨，可目光不安地闪烁着，他走上前，和这只灰武士碰了碰鼻子。 火星甩了甩尾巴。 "他们把你抓到哪儿去了？" 灰条没有回答。 他只是盯着火星。 "所以你没有等我。" 痛苦闪过火星的眼眸。 "我没办法。" 灰条低下了头。 "你不能为了等我，让整个族群留在森林里冒险。" 火星往前探了探身。 "如果只有我的性命受牵连——"他扫了一眼在场的各个族群，接着压低声音——"我一定会等你。" 冬青爪感觉到身后一阵骚动。 其他雷族武士都挤上前来，迎接他们的老伙伴。 "灰条！" 尘毛冲了过来。 "你还活着！" 莓爪、榛爪、灰毛和蜘蛛腿兴奋地围了上来，嗅着他的皮毛，用鼻子拱他。 灰条往后缩了缩。 "给他留点空间。"叶池提醒道。 "他已经累坏了。"

"But he's a legend!" Hazelpaw complained as Leafpool shooed her and the others away with her tail. Squirrelflight was staring at Graystripe's companion. "Who are you?" "This is Millie," Graystripe meowed. "I met her in Twolegplace." Squirrelflight gasped. "A kittypet made the journey with you?" "I couldn't have managed it alone," Graystripe meowed. Brambleclaw narrowed his eyes. "Did you follow our trail?" "No," Graystripe told him. "We found our own way." "We searched for Graystripe's home first," Millie explained. Her voice had a hard edge that surprised Hollypaw. She thought all kittypets would speak with the same soft mew as Daisy. Graystripe's ragged pelt bristled. "The whole forest was devastated when we got there. No cats, no prey, nothing but torn-up trees and monsters." "How did you know which way we had gone?" Leafpool asked.

"可他是传说啊！" 叶池甩尾巴把她和其他猫赶开时，榛爪不满地抱怨道。 松鼠飞正盯着灰条的同伴看。 "你是谁？" "这是米莉。"灰条说道。 "我在两脚兽地盘认识她的。" 松鼠飞倒抽了一口冷气。 "居然有宠物猫跟你一起走完这趟旅程？" "我一个人肯定走不到这里。"灰条说。 黑莓掌眯起了眼睛。 "你们是跟着我们的脚印走的吗？" "不是。"灰条回答他。 "我们自己找路过来的。" "我们先找灰条的家。"米莉解释道。 她的声音带着一丝冷硬，让冬青爪很惊讶。 她原本以为所有宠物猫说话都会像黛西一样软声软语。 灰条凌乱的皮毛炸了起来。 "我们到的时候，整片森林都被毁了。" 没有猫，没有猎物，除了被掀翻的树和怪物什么都没有。 "你怎么知道我们往哪边走了？" 叶池问道。

"We saw Ravenpaw." Firestar's eyes glowed. "How is he?" "He's well, but concerned for you all." Graystripe stopped for breath before going on. "He said he'd seen you pass and that you were heading toward the setting sun. So we carried on over Highstones—" He broke off, his tail quivering. Leafpool darted forward. "Are you okay?" "Just tired." Leopardstar shouldered her way through the ThunderClan cats. A loud purr was rumbling in her throat. "It's good to see you again, Graystripe." As she spoke the warriors from every Clan raised their voices. "Welcome back, Graystripe!" "How did he find us?" "StarClan must have been watching over him!" Cats from all four Clans surged around Graystripe until he was almost lost in a forest of pelts, brown, white, ginger, and tabby. Purrs blended, rumbling like thunder, louder than the sound of the wind in the branches.

"我们见到乌爪了。" 火星的眼睛亮了起来。 "他还好吗？" "他挺好的，只是一直惦记着你们大家。" 灰条停下来喘了口气，才继续往下说。 "他说他看见你们经过，知道你们朝着日落的方向走了。" 所以我们翻过高石——他顿住了，尾巴微微发抖。 叶池赶紧冲上前。 "你没事吧？" "就是累了。" 豹星挤着穿过雷族猫群走了过来。 她的喉咙里发出响亮的呼噜声。 "真高兴再见到你，灰条。" 她说话的时候，每个族群的武士都开口欢呼。 "欢迎回来，灰条！" "他居然能找到我们！" "星族一定一直在保佑他！" 四个族群的猫都涌到灰条身边，他几乎被淹没在一片皮毛的森林里，棕色、白色、姜黄色还有虎斑皮毛挤在一起。 呼噜声混在一起，像雷声一样隆隆作响，比风吹过树枝的声音还要响亮。

Hollypaw watched in disbelief. She knew there was a truce at the Gathering, but this was not how it was supposed to be. There were meant to be four Clans, yet the warriors were acting like they belonged to the same one. She wriggled through the crush of pelts to where Lionpaw was watching with round eyes. "It's not natural," she whispered in his ear. "Graystripe is ThunderClan. Why are the other Clans making such a fuss over him?" "I don't know," Lionpaw admitted. "I thought that being a warrior meant protecting your Clan. Shouldn't the other Clans be worried that ThunderClan has an extra warrior now?" Hazelpaw nosed in beside them. "They sound like they're in one of Squirrelflight's stories about how the Clans came together to make the Great Journey." "The Great Journey's over," Hollypaw pointed out. But Hazelpaw wasn't listening. She was gazing at Graystripe. "How did he know we were on the island?" "Do you think StarClan guided him?" Lionpaw

冬青爪难以置信地看着眼前的一幕。 她知道森林大会期间要休战，可眼前发生的事完全不对劲儿。 本该是四个族群分立，可武士们的表现就好像他们同属一个族群似的。 她在挤挤挨挨的猫群中钻来钻去，找到了睁圆了眼睛观望的狮爪。 "这太反常了，"她凑在他耳边轻声说。 "灰条是雷族的猫。 为什么其他族群要为他这么大惊小怪呀？" "我也不知道，"狮爪坦言道。 "我觉得武士就该保护自己的族群。 现在雷族多了一名武士，其他族群难道不该担心吗？" 榛爪挤到了他们俩身旁。 "他们这动静，就跟松鼠飞讲的大迁徙时族群团结的故事一模一样。" "大迁徙早就结束了，"冬青爪指出。 可榛爪根本没听进去。 她正直直盯着灰条看。 "他怎么知道我们在这座岛上？" "你觉得是星族指引他来的吗？" 狮爪