Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 Hollypaw stood on the bank of the stream that formed the border with WindClan, not far from the stepping-stones. Wind from the moor slicked her fur to her sides, bringing the scent of cats and rabbits and the tough moorland grass. Beside her, Squirrelflight waited, the tip of her tail twitching. Hollypaw could understand why her mother was uneasy. The WindClan border was still a sensitive area, after all the trouble when the WindClan kits went missing. Her thoughts fled back to the tunnels and the surging underground river. She and the other apprentices had barely made it out alive with the kits. Hollypaw hoped that the tunnels would stay hidden for a long time, so there would be no more chance of misunderstandings. "They're coming." Squirrelflight was tasting the air. A couple of heartbeats later a WindClan patrol appeared over the brow of the hill and headed toward them: Tornear, Whitetail, and Breezepaw.

第十二章 冬青爪站在构成风族边界的溪流岸边，离垫脚石不远。 沼地的风把她的皮毛吹得贴在身上，带来了猫、兔子还有坚硬沼地草的气息。 松鼠飞在她身边等候，尾巴尖不住地抽动着。 冬青爪明白妈妈为什么心神不宁。 自从风族幼崽失踪那件事之后，风族边界一直是个敏感区域。 她的思绪一下子飘回了那些地道，还有汹涌的地下河。 她和其他学徒带着幼崽，好不容易才活着逃出来。 冬青爪希望这些地道能一直隐藏下去，这样就不会再产生误会了。 “他们来了。” 松鼠飞正嗅探着空气中的气味。 没过一会儿，一支风族巡逻队出现在丘顶，朝他们走来：橡毛、白尾和风爪。

Hollypaw's belly began to churn as the apprentice charged toward her, streaking past his Clanmates. His pelt bristled; he was obviously ready for a border skirmish, but his stride faltered when he recognized Hollypaw. "Oh, it's you," he muttered, coming to a halt on the opposite bank of the stream. "That's right." Hollypaw couldn't forget what a pain he'd been in the tunnels, complaining and arguing the whole time. "I just can't keep away." She flinched as Squirrelflight flicked her ear with her tail. "Breezepaw!" Whitetail called, as she and Tornear caught up to the apprentice. "Come away from there." Breezepaw bared his teeth in the beginning of a snarl, then lowered his head and padded away, muttering something under his breath. "Why are you here?" Tornear asked; his voice was cool but not hostile. "We need to speak to Crowfeather," Squirrelflight explained. Both Tornear and Whitetail bristled, their neck fur fluffing up as they exchanged suspicious

风爪朝她猛冲过来、飞快擦过同族的时候，冬青爪的肚子开始抽搐发紧。 他的毛发全都倒竖起来； 他明摆着做好了边界冲突的准备，可认出冬青爪之后，脚步一下子顿住了。 “哦，原来是你，”他嘟囔着，在溪流对岸停了下来。 “没错。” 冬青爪可忘不了他在地道里有多讨人厌，一路上不停地抱怨争吵。 “我就是忍不住想来啊。” 松鼠飞用尾巴弹了弹她的耳朵，冬青爪猛地缩了一下。 “风爪！” 白尾边喊边和橡毛追上了这名学徒。 “到这边来。” 风爪龇出牙齿刚要低吼，接着就低下头，咕哝着什么走开了。 “你们为什么来这儿？” 橡毛开口问道，语气冷淡但没有敌意。 “我们找鸦羽有事，”松鼠飞解释道。 橡毛和白尾全都毛发倒竖，颈毛蓬起，交换着满怀狐疑的

glances. "It's about the journey we made to the sun- drown-place," Squirrelflight added quickly. "That was a long time ago," Tornear growled. "Crowfeather's memory isn't that bad," Squirrelflight retorted tartly. "He'll hardly have forgotten about it." Hollypaw couldn't understand why the WindClan cats had switched from reserve to hostility, or why her mother was being so sharp in return. Why should the WindClan cats be so tense when Crowfeather was mentioned? "I can't just go and fetch Crowfeather," Whitetail meowed. "You'll have to talk to Onestar first." "That's fine. I understand." Squirrelflight bounded lightly across the stepping-stones and into WindClan territory, giving Tornear a glare as she passed him. Hollypaw crossed more carefully, the swift-flowing stream bubbling past a mouse tail away from her paws. As she followed her mother and the WindClan warriors up the hill, Breezepaw hung back until he was padding beside her. "What are you doing

目光。 “这事和我们去日没地的旅程有关，”松鼠飞连忙补充道。 “那都是很久以前的事了，”橡毛低吼道。 “鸦羽的记性可没那么差，”松鼠飞尖刻地反驳道。 “他总不可能把这事忘了吧。” 冬青爪不明白为什么风族猫从拘谨变成了敌意，也不明白妈妈为什么也这么针锋相对。 为什么一提到鸦羽，风族猫就这么紧张呢？ “我不能随便去把鸦羽叫来，”白尾说道。 “你们得先去见一星。” “没问题。 我理解。” 松鼠飞轻轻一跃跳过垫脚石，进入风族领地，经过橡毛的时候瞪了他一眼。 冬青爪小心地过河，湍急的溪流在离她爪子不到一个鼠尾远的地方汩汩流淌。 她跟着妈妈和风族武士往山上走，风爪落在后面，慢慢走到了她身旁。 “你们到底在做什么

here?" he muttered into her ear. "Have you come to spy on our camp?" "Don't be ridiculous," Hollypaw replied. "What would we want with your stupid camp? We need to speak to Crowfeather, that's all." "What about?" Breezepaw demanded. "That's none of your business, mouse-brain!" Breezepaw's eyes narrowed in anger. "But he's my father," he began. "He—" "Breezepaw." Tornear glanced over his shoulder and flicked his tail to beckon the apprentice. "Come here and walk beside me." Breezepaw let out a hiss of annoyance, but he quickened his pace and caught up to the senior warriors. "How's your training going, Breezepaw?" Squirrelflight asked. "Not well." Whitetail didn't wait for her apprentice to reply. "He led out a patrol of apprentices to see if the dogs had come back to the far corner of our territory. Without asking permission, of course, and without even a single warrior for backup." "We were only trying to—"

来这儿？”他凑在她耳边嘟囔道。 “你们是来我们营地侦察的吗？” “别胡说八道了，”冬青爪回答道。 “我们要你们那个破营地有什么用？ 我们就是找鸦羽有事，仅此而已。” “找他干什么？” 风爪追问道。 “这不关你的事，鼠脑袋！” 风爪愤怒地眯起了眼睛。 “可他是我父亲，”他开口说道。 “他——” “风爪。” 橡毛转过头，甩了甩尾巴示意学徒过来。 “过来走在我身边。” 风爪恼怒地嘶了一声，还是加快脚步追上了资深武士们。 “你的训练进展怎么样，风爪？” 松鼠飞问道。 “不怎么样。” 白尾没等自己的学徒开口回答。 “他擅自带着一队学徒去巡逻，查看狗有没有回到我们领地的最远角落。” 当然了，他既没请求允许，甚至连一个陪同的武士都没带。” “我们只是想——”

"To get yourselves killed," Tornear interrupted. Hollypaw had heard the stories of how dogs had killed Swiftpaw back in the forest, and she'd seen the terrible injuries they had given Brightheart. Breezepaw must be even more stupid than she thought if he imagined that a few apprentices could take on a pack of dogs and survive. "And then there was the fight you provoked with the RiverClan patrol," Tornear continued, his voice sharp with annoyance. "They were not trespassing, they were not stealing prey, and Onestar didn't appreciate having to apologize to Mistyfoot for the trouble you caused." He let out a long sigh and added to Squirrelflight, "Breezepaw has many lessons to learn before he becomes a warrior." Breezepaw glared at the senior warriors as they turned away and muttered something Hollypaw didn't catch. Whitetail and Tornear led the way up a long slope to a barrier of gorse bushes. Hollypaw followed as they pushed their way through, feeling the thorns snag on her pelt. On the other

“‘你们这是去送死。’托尼尔打断道。 冬青爪听过狗从前在森林里杀死迅爪的故事，也亲眼见过狗给亮心留下的可怕伤口。 如果风皮竟然觉得几个学徒能对抗一群狗还活下来，那他可真是比冬青爪想的还要愚蠢。 “‘还有你挑起的和河族巡逻队的冲突。’托尼尔继续说，声音因恼怒变得尖锐。 “‘他们没有越境，也没有偷猎物，一星还得为你闯的祸向雾脚道歉，他可一点都不开心。’ 他长长叹了口气，对松鼠飞补充道：‘风皮成为武士之前，还有好多课要学。’ 资深武士转身走开时，风皮怒瞪着他们，咕哝了一句冬青爪没听清的话。 白尾和托尼尔带头走上长坡，来到荆豆灌木丛围成的屏障前。 冬青爪跟着他们挤过树丛，感觉到荆棘勾住了自己的皮毛。 在另一

side she found herself looking out over the WindClan camp. A steep slope led down into a natural dip, dotted with gorse and bramble. Blinking, Hollypaw tried to guess the layout. The camp was more exposed than she was used to, though toward the bottom of the dip there were hollows where cats could shelter. She tasted the air, trying to work out from the scents where each group of cats lived. A pungent smell of mouse bile was coming from a deep hole that looked like an abandoned badger set. That must be the elders" den. They're always needing mouse bile to get rid of their ticks. From a crack in a huge boulder she picked up the aromatic scent of herbs and realized that must be Barkface's den. And warm, milky scents came from a gorse thicket; that would be the nursery. "Go and take some fresh-kill to the elders," Whitetail ordered Breezepaw, interrupting Hollypaw's thoughts. Waving her tail to Squirrelflight she added, "Follow me. We'll see if Onestar is in his den." Hollypaw bounded down the slope behind her

边，她发现自己正俯瞰风族营地。 一道陡坡向下延伸进一处天然洼地，四处长着荆豆和荆棘。 冬青爪眨了眨眼，打量着营地的布局。 这里的营地比她习惯的要开阔无遮挡，不过洼地底部有不少洞穴，可以供猫咪藏身。 她嗅了嗅空气中的气味，想分辨出不同族群的猫咪住在哪。 一个看起来像是废弃獾洞的深洞里，传出刺鼻的老鼠胆汁味。 那一定是长老们的巢穴。 长老们总需要老鼠胆汁来除掉身上的壁虱。 她从一块巨岩的裂缝里闻到了药草的清香，意识到那肯定是树皮脸的巢穴。 一丛荆豆里传出温热的奶香味，那肯定就是育婴室。 “‘去拿些新鲜猎物给长老们。’白尾命令风皮，打断了冬青爪的思绪。 她冲松鼠飞摆了摆尾巴，补充道：‘跟我来， 我们去看看一星在不在他的巢穴。’ 冬青爪跑下山坡，跟在她的