Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25 Jaypaw lay in the moss-lined nest beside Lionpaw and Hollypaw, listening to the endless thunder of the waterfall. There seemed to be voices in it, too faint for him to catch, however hard he strained his ears. Nearby, he could hear the murmuring of tired cats as they settled down for the night. Hollypaw and Lionpaw were sleeping like hedgehogs in leaf-bare, exhausted from working so hard. Curled up with his tail over his nose, Jaypaw tried to sleep too, but it was no good. His paws itched to be up and doing something. Careful not to disturb his littermates, he slid out of the nest and padded into the center of the cave. He was beginning to learn his way around. He could distinguish the sleeping places of the cave- guards and prey-hunters and scent his own Clanmates who were sharing their space. Creeping across the cave floor with the waterfall behind him, he heard an echoing tinkle of water drops falling and discovered a trickle spilling into a pool. He crouched down to lap; the water was ice

第25章 杰爪躺在狮爪和冬青爪旁铺着苔藓的窝里，听着瀑布永不停歇的轰鸣。 轰鸣声里似乎藏着说话声，可无论他怎么用力侧耳，声音都太轻，什么也听不清。 不远处，他能听到疲惫的猫咪们安顿过夜时的低语声。 冬青爪和狮爪忙活了一天累坏了，睡得像秃叶季里蜷成球的刺猬。 杰爪蜷起身子，把尾巴盖在鼻子上，也试着睡觉，可根本睡不着。 他爪子发痒，就想起身做点什么。 他小心不吵醒同窝的手足，悄悄溜出窝，轻步走到洞穴中央。 他已经渐渐摸清这里的路了。 他能分辨出洞穴守卫和猎手的睡处，还能闻出和他们挤住在一起的本族猫的气味。 他悄悄穿过洞穴地面，身后就是瀑布，这时他听到水滴落下清脆的回响，发现一小股水流正淌进水潭里。 他蹲下来舔水喝，这水冰冷

cold and tasted of the wind. He found it hard to believe that the Clan cats would stay here in the mountains for much longer. They weren't welcome here, whatever Stoneteller said, and it didn't look as if forcing the Tribe to learn Clan skills would solve anything. But before they left he was determined to discover more about the Tribe of Endless Hunting. Rising to his paws again, he licked the last drops of water from his jaws and tasted the air. Stoneteller's scent! Jaypaw picked up the faint trace on the cave floor and followed it toward the back of the cave, where a gap opened up. He slid through it and along a narrow tunnel until the movement of air and the faint echoes of his paw steps told him that he had emerged into another cave. A wisp of chill wind told him that it was open to the sky, at least partly. Padding forward, his paw splashed in a puddle of water and he drew back sharply, shaking it in disgust. He brushed against stone and explored it with one paw; it jutted from the cave floor like a tree trunk. The

刺骨，还带着山风的味道。 他很难相信，族猫们还会在这片山里待更长时间。 不管石言者怎么说，他们在这里都不受欢迎，而且就算强迫部落学习族群的技能，也解决不了任何问题。 但在离开之前，他下定决心要多了解一些无尽猎群部落的事。 他重新站起身，舔干净嘴边残留的水滴，嗅了嗅空气中的气味。 是石言者的气味！ 杰爪闻到洞穴地面上这淡淡的痕迹，顺着它往洞穴深处走，那里有一道开口。 他溜了进去，沿着狭窄的通道往前走，空气的流动和爪印的微弱回声告诉他，他已经走进了另一个洞穴。 一缕冷风告诉他，这个洞穴至少有一部分是连通天空的。 他往前走去，爪子猛地踩进一滩积水，他连忙缩回脚，嫌恶地甩了甩爪子。 他碰到一块石头，伸出一只爪子摸索它； 这块石头从洞穴地面凸出来，就像一根树干。 这

air was filled with strange, whispering echoes, voices that were too faint to make out, like those he had heard in the waterfall. Then a clearer voice spoke. "Jaypaw, welcome to the Cave of Pointed Stones." Jaypaw froze. He had been too intent on his investigations to wonder what would happen if Stoneteller found him here. This was the Healer's private place, he could tell, like a Clan leader's den. But there was no point in pretending he wasn't there. "Thank you, Stoneteller." He heard the sound of paw steps and imagined the old tabby padding toward him. When Stoneteller's voice came again it was close to his ear. "This is where I share tongues with the Tribe of Endless Hunting. They send me signs through the shimmer of stars and moon in the water, the dance of light and shadow on the stones that rise from the floor and jut down from the roof, the echoes of wind, water, and paw steps." His voice rose and fell, unlike normal speech, then dropped to a low murmur. "Yet now they send no signs

空气中满是奇怪的低语般的回声，那些声音轻得无法分辨，就像他在瀑布轰鸣里听到的一样。 接着一个清晰的声音响了起来。 "杰爪，欢迎来到尖石洞穴。" 杰爪一下子僵住了。 他光顾着探查，压根没想过石言者发现他在这里会怎么样。 他看得出来，这是医者的私人领地，就像族群首领的窝洞一样。 可再假装自己不在这儿也没用了。 "谢谢你，石言者。" 他听到爪子走动的声响，忍不住猜测这只老花斑猫正朝自己走来。 石言者再次开口时，声音就在他耳边。 "这就是我和无尽猎群交流的地方。 他们借着水面对星月光辉的闪烁，从地面凸出、从屋顶垂下的石头上的光影舞动，还有风、水流和爪步的回声，给我传递征兆。" 他的声音忽高忽低，和平常说话不一样，接着又压得很低，成了喃喃低语。 可如今他们再也不给我传递征兆

that promise relief for my Tribe." Jaypaw had lost respect for Stoneteller when the old cat had lied about the message from the Tribe of Endless Hunting. But he couldn't ignore the Healer's age and wisdom or the sharp sense of betrayal Stoneteller felt as he faced the destruction of his Tribe. "Our ancestors have no help to offer," Stoneteller went on. "It is as though they don't care that we are dying." Jaypaw wasn't sure if Stoneteller was really talking to him. He was speaking as if to a much older cat, one who might have wisdom to share with him. "Clan cats look to StarClan," Jaypaw began hesitantly. "Yet not even StarClan is all-powerful. Perhaps the Tribe of Endless Hunting doesn't know how to help you." "Then why did they bring us here?" Stoneteller rasped. "They promised us we would be safe." Jaypaw's ears pricked. What did Stoneteller know about the beginnings of the Tribe? "Where did you live before?" he asked. "Why did you have to leave and come here?"

能给我的部落带来解脱了。" 石言者之前隐瞒了无尽猎群的讯息，杰爪已经不再尊重他了。 可他没法无视这位医者的年纪和智慧，也能感受到石言者面对部落濒临毁灭时深切的背叛感。 "我们的祖先帮不了我们，"石言者继续说道。 "就好像他们根本不在乎我们快要灭亡了。" 杰爪不太确定，石言者是不是真的在和自己说话。 他说话的样子，像是对着一只年长许多、能给他分享智慧的猫说的。 "族群猫信奉星族，"杰爪犹豫着开口。 "可就连星族也不是无所不能的。 也许无尽猎群也不知道该怎么帮助你们。" "那他们当初为什么要把我们带到这里来？" 石言者粗声说道。 "他们向我们保证过，我们在这里会安全。" 杰爪一下子竖起了耳朵。 关于部落的起源，石言者知道些什么呢？ "你们从前住在哪里？" 他问道。 "你们为什么非得离开原来的地方，来到这里呢？"

Stoneteller sighed, his breath riffling Jaypaw's whiskers. "I do not know. It was many seasons, many lifetimes ago. The Tribe of Endless Hunting has not told me this." Every hair on Jaypaw's pelt prickled. So the Tribe hadn't always lived in the mountains! Perhaps the Tribe of Endless Hunting was so helpless because they were convinced they had been wrong, and the mountains were not the right place to bring these cats. He clawed the damp floor with his forepaws. If only he knew the whole truth, not just these tantalizing scraps! "What do the signs say tonight?" he asked Stoneteller. "Very little," the Healer replied. "The moon shines on the water, but—there!—a cloud drifts over it, as if all our hopes are blotted out. The echoes tell me nothing, but over there wind ruffles the surface of a puddle, and that means change." He sighed again, sounding unutterably weary. "What the change may be, I do not know. I will sleep now. Good night, Jaypaw." "Good night." Jaypaw heard the old cat's paw steps retreating, and then a scuffling sound as if he

凝石者叹了口气，气息吹得松鸦爪的胡须轻轻颤动。 ‘我不知道。 那是好多季节、好几辈子以前的事了。 无尽狩猎部落没有告诉过我这件事。’ 松鸦爪身上每根毛都竖了起来。 原来部落不是一直都住在山里啊！ 也许无尽狩猎部落这么无助，就是因为他们认定自己当初错了，这座山根本不是该带这些猫来的地方。 他伸出前爪抓挠着潮湿的地面。 真希望他知道全部真相，而不只是这些吊人胃口的碎片！ ‘今晚的征兆说了什么？’ 他问凝石者。 ‘看不出什么，’这位医者回答。 ‘月光照在水面上，可是——你看！一朵云飘了过来，好像我们所有的希望都被遮住了。 回声什么也没告诉我，但是那边风吹皱了一汪水，这意味着要有变化了。’ 他又叹了口气，听上去说不出的疲惫。 ‘我也不知道会是什么样的变化。 我现在要睡觉了。 晚安，松鸦爪。’ ‘晚安。’ 松鸦爪听见老猫的脚步声渐渐远去，接着传来一阵窸窣拖拉的声音，好像他

was making himself comfortable in a mossy nest. He stood listening as the sounds died away, trying to make some sense of the echoes in the cave, but they told him nothing. Padding to the side of the cave, he found a dip in the ground. It was bare stone, with no comfortable lining, but he curled up in it, knowing that only in dreams would he find the answers to his questions. Jaypaw closed his eyes and woke once more on the jutting outcrop of rock with the wind flattening his fur along his sides. Rock sat on a boulder facing him. Moonlight glistened on his hairless body and his bulging sightless eyes seemed fixed on Jaypaw. "These are not your ancestors," he mewed, before Jaypaw could speak. "Be careful." "I am careful," Jaypaw retorted. "And I have to do something! The Tribe of Endless Hunting has given up on the Tribe. They're not doing anything to help." "But your Clanmates are," Rock replied. "But that's not right!" Jaypaw protested, twitching his tail-tip in confusion. "Isn't it the

正打算在苔藓窝里舒舒服服安顿下来。 他站在那儿听着声音渐渐消去，想弄明白洞里回声的含义，可回声什么都没告诉他。 他轻步走到洞穴侧边，发现地上有一处凹陷。 这儿只有光秃秃的石头，没有舒服的垫草，可他还是蜷了进去，他明白只有在梦里才能找到问题的答案。 松鸦爪闭上眼，再醒来时，他已经站在一块突出的岩架上，风把他身体两侧的毛都吹贴在了身上。 岩石坐在一块大圆石上，正对着他。 月光在他没毛的身体上闪着光，他鼓出的盲眼似乎正盯着松鸦爪。 ‘这些猫不是你的祖先，’松鸦爪还没开口，他就先出声了。 ‘小心点。’ ‘我已经很小心了，’松鸦爪反驳道。 ‘而且我必须做点什么！ 无尽狩猎部落已经放弃了这个部落。 他们根本什么忙都不肯帮。’ ‘可是你的族伴们在帮忙，’岩石回答。 ‘可这不对啊！ 松鸦爪抗议道，困惑地轻轻甩了甩尾尖。 ‘难道不是