Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 Hollypaw pushed through the brambles into the nursery and set down a blackbird in front of Daisy. Rosekit and Toadkit lay in the curve of their mother's belly, suckling with their tiny tails stretched out behind them. "Thank you," Daisy mewed, reaching out one paw to drag the blackbird closer. "That feels like a good plump one." "Can we have some?" Foxkit sat up from where he was wrestling with his sister. "I'm starving!" "Certainly not," their mother, Ferncloud, replied. "You're old enough to fetch your own fresh-kill." "Can we?" Icekit's head popped up out of the bracken. "I could eat a whole rabbit." "All right," Ferncloud meowed. "Fetch some for Millie, too!" she called after them as the two kits shot out through the opening in the brambles. Millie blinked sleepily from where she lay in a mossy nest. Her belly looked huge; Hollypaw

第三章 冬青爪拨开荆棘走进育婴室，把一只黑鸫放在黛西面前。 玫瑰崽和蟾蜍崽蜷在妈妈肚子弯起的地方，吮着奶，小尾巴直直伸在身后。 "谢谢你，"黛西轻声叫着，伸出一只爪子把黑鸫拉到近前。 "这只看起来又肥又棒。" "我们能吃点吗？" 刚才正和姐姐摔跤的狐崽一下子坐直了身子。 "我快饿死啦！" "当然不行，"他们的妈妈蕨云回答道。 "你们已经长大了，该自己去捕新鲜猎物了。" "我们真的可以去吗？" 冰崽从蕨丛里探出了脑袋。 "我能吃下整整一只兔子！" "好吧，"蕨云说道。 "记得也给米莉带一份回来！" 两只幼崽嗖地冲过荆棘缺口跑出去时，她在他们身后喊道。 米莉躺在苔藓窝里睡眼惺忪地眨了眨眼。 她的肚子鼓得大大的；冬青爪

guessed that it wouldn't be long before her kits were born. "Thank you," Millie purred to Ferncloud. Ferncloud sighed. "It's time those two were apprenticed. They need mentors to keep an eye on them." Hollypaw silently agreed as she left the nursery and padded across to the fresh-kill pile to fetch prey for the elders. Foxkit and Icekit were already there, play fighting over a chaffinch. "What about some prey for Millie?" Hollypaw reminded them. "Oh, sorry." Foxkit scrambled up, grabbed a couple of mice by their tails, and scampered off across the clearing with the prey swinging from his jaws. Icekit let out a little purr of triumph and settled down to eat the chaffinch. Hollypaw began nosing through the fresh-kill pile to find something for the elders. The scents of the nursery still clung to her fur. She felt as if the whole camp was full of kits and mothers expecting kits. Will the Clan expect me to have kits? she

猜到用不了多久她就要生幼崽了。 "谢谢你，"米莉对着蕨云满足地呼噜道。 蕨云叹了口气。 "那两个小家伙也该当学徒了。 他们需要导师看住他们。" 冬青爪默默同意了这个说法，她离开育婴室，轻步走到猎物堆，要给长老们拿猎物。 狐崽和冰崽已经在这儿了，正打着玩争抢一只苍头燕雀。 "别忘了给米莉带猎物呀？" 冬青爪提醒他们。 "哦，对不起。" 狐崽赶忙爬起来，叼住两只老鼠的尾巴，叼着猎物蹦蹦跳跳穿过空地跑远了。 冰崽得意地轻轻呼噜一声，卧下来吃那只苍头燕雀。 冬青爪开始在猎物堆里翻找，给长老们找合适的猎物。 育婴室的气味还沾在她的毛上。 她觉得整个营地全都是幼崽，还有快要生幼崽的猫妈妈。 族群会不会也期望我生幼崽呢？ 她

wondered. She knew that kits were the future of the Clan, but when she thought about becoming a mother herself, she felt as if she were carrying the weight of the whole forest on her shoulders. She was beginning to drag a rabbit out of the pile when Honeypaw came bounding up to her. "Who's that for?" Honeypaw asked. "The elders." "I just took them a squirrel," Honeypaw told her. "If they're okay in the nursery, then we're done." Hollypaw let the rabbit drop back onto the pile. "There's not much fresh-kill left," she meowed. "I'm going to ask Brackenfur if we can go hunting." Though there had been a heavy shower at dawn, the clouds had cleared away and the sun was shining. Every leaf and blade of grass sparkled. A stiff breeze carried prey-scent from the forest; Hollypaw's paws itched with longing to get out of the camp. "There's a hunting patrol just coming back," Honeypaw pointed out, flicking her tail toward the camp entrance.

暗暗想道。 她知道幼崽是族群的未来，可一想到自己要当妈妈，她就觉得好像整座森林的重量都压在了自己肩上。 她刚把一只兔子拖出猎物堆，蜜爪就蹦蹦跳跳跑到了她身边。 "这是给谁的呀？" 蜜爪问道。 "给长老们的。" "我刚给他们送过一只松鼠了，"蜜爪告诉她。 "要是育婴室那边也搞定了，我们就没活了。" 冬青爪把兔子放回了猎物堆上。 "剩下的新鲜猎物不多了，"她说道。 "我要去找蕨毛，问问我们能不能出去打猎。" 虽然黎明时分下了一场大雨，这会儿乌云已经散开，太阳出来了。 每一片叶子、每一根草都闪闪发亮。 一阵劲风从森林吹来猎物的气味； 冬青爪的爪子痒痒的，满心都想跑出营地去。 "刚好有一支打猎队回来了，"蜜爪抬尾巴指向营地入口，提醒道。

Graystripe emerged, carrying a squirrel and two mice in his jaws, followed by Brightheart with a couple of voles and Berrynose with a rabbit. "Oh, look!" Honeypaw's eyes stretched wide. "Berrynose has caught a huge rabbit. He's amazing!" "Berrynose?" Hollypaw couldn't stop her voice from squeaking in surprise. Ever since he had become a warrior five days earlier, the cream- colored tom had been the bossiest cat in the Clan. Honeypaw blinked in embarrassment and scuffled at the sandy floor of the clearing with her forepaws. "I really like him," she confessed. "But I don't suppose he'll look at me, not now that he's a warrior." Hollypaw privately thought Berrynose's nose was so high in the air he wouldn't be able to look at any cat. And if he knew that Honeypaw liked him, he would become even more unbearable. "You're good enough for—" she began, only to break off as Honeypaw dashed away to meet Berrynose in the middle of the clearing. Hollypaw sighed. They were only apprentices; surely it was too early to think about taking a

灰条走在最前面，嘴里叼着一只松鼠和两只老鼠，身后跟着亮心，亮心叼着两只田鼠，莓鼻叼着一只兔子。 "哦，你看！" 蜜爪一下子睁大了眼睛。 "莓鼻捉到了一只好大的兔子。 他太厉害了！" "莓鼻？" 冬青爪忍不住惊讶得叫出了声。 自从五天前成为武士，这只奶油色的公猫就成了族群里最专横的猫。 蜜爪尴尬地眨了眨眼，用前爪扒了扒营地的沙地。 "我真的很喜欢他，"她坦白道。 "可我觉得他不会看我一眼，现在他都成武士了。" 冬青爪私下觉得，莓鼻都把鼻子翘上天了，根本不会正眼看任何一只猫。 而且要是他知道蜜爪喜欢自己，肯定会变得更让人受不了。 "你那么好，配他——"她刚开口，话没说完，蜜爪就冲出去，到营地中间找莓鼻了。 冬青爪叹了口气。 她们还只是学徒呢，现在肯定还太早去考虑找个

mate? She wanted to prove herself as a warrior first, to show courage in defending her Clan and skill in hunting to feed her Clanmates. She wanted to take responsibility for how her Clan was run, to make ThunderClan great for season after season.... Hollypaw stood rigid, paws frozen to the ground. Yes! she thought. I'd much rather be Clan leader than a nursing queen. For a heartbeat the strength of her ambition frightened her. Then she calmed down. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be Clan leader, if it meant she would serve her Clan with every muscle in her body and every hair on her pelt. Turning away from the fresh-kill pile, fed up with the sight of Honeypaw hanging adoringly around Berrynose, she saw her mother, Squirrelflight, emerging from the warriors" den. Hollypaw bounded over to her. "Squirrelflight, can I ask you something?" Her mother's ears twitched. "Sure." "You had kits," Hollypaw meowed, "but you manage to be a warrior as well. How do you do it?"

伴侣？ 她想先证明自己是合格的武士，展现保卫族群的勇气，还有捕猎喂养族伴的本领。 她想承担起管理族群的责任，让雷族一季接一季地强盛下去…… 冬青爪僵在原地，爪子像钉在了地上。 没错！ 她心想。 比起做养育幼崽的猫后，我更想当族长。 有一瞬间，这份强烈的野心让她自己都吃了一惊。 很快她就冷静下来。 想当族长没什么不对，只要她能拼尽全力、全心全意为族群效力就好。 她转身离开猎物堆，早就看腻了蜜爪一脸崇拜黏着莓鼻的样子，这时她看见母亲松鼠飞从武士巢穴走出来。 冬青爪蹦跳着跑到她身边。 “松鼠飞，我能问你一个问题吗？” 她母亲的耳朵轻轻动了动。 “当然可以。” “你生过幼崽，”冬青爪说，“可你照样能当好武士呀。 你是怎么做到的？”

Squirrelflight narrowed her eyes, and for a moment Hollypaw thought she saw something flash in their green depths, some emotion she couldn't understand. But her mother's voice was even as she asked, "Why do you want to know that?" "I was just wondering...." Hollypaw felt awkward. "I just feel like every cat expects she- cats to have kits, and I'm not sure I want that. I want to be a warrior." To her annoyance, Squirrelflight's tail curled up in amusement. "Don't try to plan so far ahead!" her mother meowed. "StarClan already has your path marked out, and there'll be twists and turns in it that you can't possibly expect." "But—" "Look around you," Squirrelflight went on. "Plenty of she-cats have kits and then return to the warriors" den." But do they become Clan leader? "Don't worry about it," Squirrelflight finished, resting her tail-tip on her daughter's shoulder. "Just concentrate on your training." That doesn't help, Hollypaw thought

松鼠飞眯起眼睛，有一瞬间冬青爪觉得她绿色的眼眸深处闪过一丝自己看不懂的情绪。 可母亲的声音十分平静，她问道：“你为什么想知道这个？” “我就是随便想想……” 冬青爪有点不好意思。 “我就是觉得，所有猫都盼着母猫生幼崽，可我不确定我想要那样。 我想当武士。” 让冬青爪恼火的是，松鼠飞居然被逗笑了，尾巴都卷了起来。 “别计划那么远呀！” 母亲说道。 “星族早就给你铺好路了，路上会有你想不到的波折和转弯。” “可是——”“你看看周围呀，”松鼠飞继续说道。 “很多母猫生完幼崽，都能回到武士巢穴继续当武士呀。” 可她们有当上族长的吗？ “别担心这个，”松鼠飞说完，把尾尖搭在女儿的肩上。 “专心做好你的训练就好。” 这根本没用，冬青爪心想