Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 Jaykit tried to move, but pain shot through his limbs and gripped his chest like claws. Panic flooded him. I'm broken! He tried to mew for help. "Hush, little one." Warm breath stirred his fur, and a soft nose nuzzled his flank. He figured it must be Leafpool, though she sounded strange. Perhaps the throbbing in his head was confusing him. Jaykit knew he was in the cleft in the wall of the hollow that formed Leafpool's den. Moss softened the ground beneath him. Cold air flowed down the smooth rock walls, soft as water. Tendrils of bramble shielded the entrance. The scent of herbs filled the air; instinctively Jaykit tried to distinguish one from another. He identified juniper easily—Leafpool had fed it to Lionkit for bellyache after he had eaten too much fresh-kill. Borage he remembered from when Ferncloud had a fever after Icekit and Foxkit were born. Where were Hollykit and Lionkit?

第三章 松鸦崽试着挪动身子，剧痛窜过他的四肢，像利爪一样攥紧了他的胸口。 恐慌淹没了他。 我摔坏了！ 他想出声呼救。 "嘘，小宝贝。" 温暖的气息拂动他的皮毛，柔软的鼻子蹭了蹭他的胁腹。 他猜这一定是叶池，不过她的声音听起来怪怪的。 或许是脑袋里的搏动把他弄迷糊了。 松鸦崽知道自己待在山谷岩壁的裂口里，这里是叶池的巢穴。 苔藓垫软了他身下的地面。 冰冷的空气顺着光滑岩壁流动，柔得像水一般。 悬钩子的枝蔓挡住了入口。 空气中弥漫着药草香，松鸦崽本能地想要分辨出每种草药。 他一下子就闻出了杜松——之前狮崽吃多了鲜货肚子疼，叶池给他喂过杜松。 他还记得琉璃苣，冰崽和狐崽出生后蕨云发烧，用的就是这个药草。 冬青崽和狮崽在哪儿呢？

He couldn't smell them anywhere. He writhed in his nest, trying to find them. "Lie still, little one." Jaykit opened his eyes and saw a she-cat crouched beside him. He realized he must be dreaming. She wasn't a cat he recognized, but she had ThunderClan scent. Her image was hazy, a jumble of shapes, but he could make out the beautiful orange and brown markings on her lithe body as she sniffed along his pelt. Her eyes were large and pale, one rimmed with darker fur than the other, and her mottled face narrowed to a soft white muzzle. "Don't look so frightened," she told him. "You are safe." "What about Hollykit and Lionkit?" "They are safe too." Jaykit let his head rest back into the moss as the she-cat continued to nuzzle his fur, gently touching every aching spot on his body. The parts she touched seemed to flood with heat until he felt warm all over. "Drink now, precious," she urged. She dragged a leaf to his mouth. It held a tiny pool of water. It was cool and sweet and made him feel sleepy. He

他在哪儿都闻不到他俩的气味。 他在窝里扭来扭去，想要找到他们。 "躺着别动，小宝贝。" 松鸦崽睁开眼睛，看见一只母猫蹲在他身旁。 他意识到自己肯定是在做梦。 他不认识这只猫，但她身上带着雷族的气味。 她的影像模模糊糊，轮廓重叠在一起，可她蹭着他皮毛嗅闻时，他能看出她灵活的身子上长着漂亮的橙棕色斑纹。 她的眼睛又大又浅，一只眼睛周围的毛比另一只颜色更深，带斑纹的脸收窄成柔软的白色口鼻。 "别这么害怕，"她对他说。 "你很安全。" "那冬青崽和狮崽呢？" "他们也很安全。" 母猫继续蹭着松鸦崽的皮毛，轻轻触碰他身上每一处酸疼的地方，松鸦崽便把头放回了苔藓上。 她碰过的地方仿佛涌进了热气，很快他全身上下都暖烘烘的。 "喝点东西吧，宝贝，"她催促道。 她把一片叶子拖到他嘴边。 叶子上盛着一小汪水。 水又凉又甜，喝了让他犯困。 他

closed his eyes. When Jaykit awoke the she-cat was gone. His body still ached, but not as much as before. "You're awake." Leafpool's voice surprised him. "Where is the other cat?" he asked groggily. "What other cat?" "The one that brought me water to drink." He recalled the distinctive mottled markings on her body. "She was a tortoiseshell, with a white muzzle." "Tortoiseshell with a white muzzle?" Leafpool's mew sharpened with interest. Jaykit couldn't understand why Leafpool was just repeating everything he said. He tried lifting his head, but his neck felt too stiff and he winced in pain. "You'll be sore for a while," Leafpool warned him. "But you were lucky that no bones were broken." She rolled a ball of water-soaked moss to his muzzle. "Here, you should drink something." "I'm not thirsty," Jaykit mewed. "I told you, that other cat brought me some water."

闭上了眼睛。 松鸦崽醒来时，那只母猫已经走了。 他的身子还是疼，但比之前好多了。 "你醒啦。" 叶池的声音吓了他一跳。 "另一只猫在哪儿？"他昏昏沉沉地问。 "什么另一只猫？" "就是给我水喝的那只。" 他想起了她身上独特的斑驳斑纹。 "她是一只玳瑁猫，长着白色的口鼻。" "玳瑁猫，白色口鼻？" 叶池的声音变得尖锐，满是好奇。 松鸦崽不明白，为什么叶池只是重复他说的话。 他试着抬起头，可脖子僵硬得厉害，疼得他缩了一下。 "你还会疼一阵子的，"叶池提醒他。 "不过你运气好，骨头都没断。" 她把一团浸了水的苔藓滚到他嘴边。 "来，喝点东西吧。" "我不渴，"松鸦崽喵声道。 "我都说了，另一只猫已经给我喝过水了。"

Leafpool pawed the moss away from his mouth. "Tell me about her," she prompted gently. Jaykit started to feel uneasy, as if he might have done something wrong. He was puzzled by the tension in Leafpool's shoulders, and the way the tip of her tail stirred the moss-covered ground. "I'd never seen her before, but she smelled of ThunderClan and she was here in your den, so I guessed it was okay to drink the water she gave me." There was a long pause, then: "It was Spottedleaf," Leafpool meowed. "One of our warrior ancestors." "Like in StarClan? I... I'm not dead, am I?" "No, of course not. It must have been a dream." "But why would I dream of a cat I've never met?" "StarClan works in its own way. Spottedleaf chose to come to you for a reason," Leafpool murmured. She turned away to tidy a wrap of herbs. "Thank StarClan your ancestors took pity on you," she told him briskly. "You could have died falling over the cliff. You were lucky you

叶池把苔藓从他嘴边扒开。 "跟我说说她的事，"她温柔地引导道。 松鸦崽开始感到不安，好像自己做错了什么事。 叶池肩膀紧绷，尾巴尖不停扫着铺了苔藓的地面，这让他十分困惑。 "我之前从来没见过她，但她身上有雷族的气味，还待在你的巢穴里，所以我才觉得喝她给的水没问题。" 沉默良久后，叶池开口道："那是斑叶。" "是我们的一位武士祖先。" "就是星族来的对吗？" "我…" "我没死，对不对？" "不，当然没死。 那一定是场梦。" "可我为什么会梦到一只我从没见过的猫？" "星族自有它的安排。 斑叶选择来找你是有原因的，"叶池轻声低语。 她转过身整理包好的药草。 "感谢星族，你的祖先怜悯你，"她轻快地说。 "你从悬崖摔下去本来可能会死的。" 你真幸运，你

weren't badly hurt!" "I feel hurt enough," Jaykit complained. "You have no one to blame but yourself. You should never have gone hunting foxes. You're mouse-brains, the three of you! And you most of all. What were you thinking of, leaving the camp like that?" Her irritation sparked anger in Jaykit. Ignoring his aching stiffness, he scrabbled to his paws and glared at her. "It's not fair!" he snapped. "I should be allowed to do the same things as any cat!" "None of you should have been outside the hollow," Leafpool pointed out. "Hollykit and Lionkit have been in serious trouble with Firestar and Squirrelflight." Jaykit opened his mouth to defend himself, but she went on. "Thank StarClan that Thornclaw was close enough to save Hollykit and Lionkit from that den. Those fox cubs were old enough to have torn them to pieces." Jaykit lifted his chin defiantly. "We were trying to protect the Clan." "One day you will," Leafpool promised. "But first you need to learn as much as you can, which includes learning not to go off by yourself!"

伤得不重！” “我可疼坏了。”杰崽抱怨道。 “这事只能怪你自己。 你本来就不该去猎狐狸。 你们三个全都蠢透了！ 尤其是你。 你就那样离开营地，脑子里到底在想什么？” 她的不满点燃了杰崽心头的火气。 他不顾浑身酸痛僵硬，挣扎着站起身，怒视着她。 “这不公平！” 他厉声说道。 “我应该能和其他猫一样做任何事！” “你们谁都不该出山谷去。”叶池指出。 “冬青崽和狮崽已经被火星和松鼠飞狠狠教训过了。” 杰崽张开嘴想为自己辩解，可叶池还在往下说。 “感谢星族，幸好棘爪离得够近，把冬青崽和狮崽从狐狸洞里救了出来。 那些小狐狸已经大得能把他们撕成碎片了。” 杰崽挑衅地扬起下巴。 “我们本来就是想保护族群。” “总有一天你会做到的。”叶池承诺道。 “但你首先得学好本事，其中就包括不能私自乱跑！”

"Do you think Firestar will delay my apprenticeship because of this?" he mewed, suddenly anxious. Leafpool drew the tip of her tail gently around his ears and said nothing. "You do, don't you!" Jaykit wailed. "Has Firestar said anything? Tell me!" "Dear Jaykit." Leafpool sighed. "You must know that you can never become an ordinary apprentice like Hollykit or Lionkit." She ran her tail along his back. Jaykit shrugged it away. It was as though a gale had swept him up and he could hear nothing but the rushing of wind in his ears. He began to walk to the entrance of the den, but each paw step made him wince with pain. Leafpool called to him, sounding unhappy. "Jaykit, wait. I thought you understood...." "Understood what?" Jaykit whipped around to face her. "That I'm not good enough to fight for my Clan?" "This has nothing to do with not being good enough," Leafpool meowed. "There are other ways to serve your Clan."

“你说火星会因为这事推迟我的学徒期吗？”他开口问道，忽然慌了起来。 叶池轻轻把尾尖绕在他的耳边，什么也没说。 “你就是这么想的对不对！” 杰崽哀嚎道。 “火星说过什么了吗？ 快告诉我！” “亲爱的杰崽。” 叶池叹了口气。 “你要清楚，你永远没法像冬青崽或是狮崽那样，做一名普通的学徒。” 她用尾巴蹭了蹭杰崽的后背。 杰崽把它甩开了。 就像一阵狂风卷过他，除了耳边呼啸的风声，他什么都听不见。 他朝巢穴入口走去，可每迈一步都疼得皱起眉头。 叶池叫住他，声音里满是难过。 “杰崽，等等。 我以为你明白……” “明白什么？” 杰崽猛地转身对着她。 “明白我不配为我的族群战斗吗？” “这和配不配没关系。”叶池说道。 “还有别的方式能为族群效力。”