Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 Cool night air whispered through Jaypaw's fur. Up above, he knew the half moon would be floating in a clear sky. His mentor, Leafpool, padded beside him, following the stream that divided WindClan's territory from ThunderClan's. Jaypaw's belly was churning with anticipation. Would Rock speak to him at the Moonpool? The thought that he might encounter only the cats of StarClan made his tail twitch with impatience. StarClan wasn't important, after all. They were only Clan cats who had moved on to a different place. The prophecy had said he would have the power of the stars in his paws. That must mean that he would be more powerful than StarClan, so why should he waste time walking with them in his dreams? He needed to go further back, to find the ancient cats who had once gathered at the Moonpool. They must be the truly powerful cats, who would help him find his destiny. It's Lionpaw's and Hollypaw's destiny, too.

第五章 凉爽夜风轻拂过松鸦爪的皮毛。 他知道，头顶晴空中正悬着一弯半月。 他的导师叶池走在他身侧，沿着分隔风族与雷族领土的溪流前行。 松鸦爪满心期待，心绪翻腾不已。 岩石会在月池和他对话吗？ 一想到自己可能只会遇见星族的猫，他就急得尾巴直抽动。 毕竟，星族根本不重要。 他们不过是去了另一个世界的部族猫而已。 预言说，他的爪中将拥有群星的力量。 那肯定意味着他比星族更强大，凭什么要浪费时间在梦里和他们同行呢？ 他得追溯到更久远以前，找到曾经聚集在月池的远古猫。 他们才是真正强大的猫，会帮他找到自己的使命。 这也是狮爪和冬青爪的使命。

Jaypaw did his best to ignore the small voice niggling at the back of his mind. His brother and sister would have to find their own source of power. He had been chosen to be a medicine cat, so this must be the right way for him alone. "Leafpool, wait for us!" The distant call came from WindClan territory. Leafpool halted, and Jaypaw waited by her side. Tasting the air, he picked up the scents of three cats: Barkface and Kestrelpaw, and Willowpaw, who must have met up with the WindClan cats on her way from RiverClan. "Where's Mothwing?" Leafpool asked anxiously as the other medicine cats caught up. "She's not ill, is she?" "No, she's fine," Willowpaw replied. "But Beechfur has an infected bee sting, so Mothwing thought she'd better stay in camp and look after him." Huh! Jaypaw thought. And hedgehogs fly! He could guess why Mothwing wasn't with her apprentice. The infected warrior was just an excuse. Mothwing didn't have any connection with StarClan. She must have decided that she

松鸦爪努力不去理会心底那个纠缠不休的小声音。 他的弟弟妹妹得自己找到力量的源泉。 他被选为巫医，所以这条路只属于他一个人。 “叶池，等等我们！” 远处的喊声从风族领土传来。 叶池停下脚步，松鸦爪在她身边等候。 他嗅了嗅空气，分辨出三只猫的气味：树皮脸、隼爪和柳爪，柳爪肯定是从河族赶来的路上遇上了风族猫。 “蛾翅呢？” 其他巫医赶上来时，叶池焦急地问道。 “她没生病吧？” “不，她没事，”柳爪回答。 “不过山毛榉毛的蜂蛰发炎了，所以蛾翅觉得自己最好留在营地照顾他。” 哼！ 松鸦爪心想。 刺猬都会飞了！ 他猜得出来蛾翅为什么没和自己的学徒一起来。 那个受伤的武士不过是个借口罢了。 蛾翅根本和星族没有联结。 她肯定是觉得自己

could get a good night's sleep in her own den instead of trekking all the way up to the Moonpool to have it there. "Hello, Jaypaw," Willowpaw mewed. Her voice was cool and polite. "Hi, Willowpaw." Okay, I know you don't like me. I'm not all that besotted with you, either. "Hi, Jaypaw." Kestrelpaw sounded more friendly. "How's the prey running in ThunderClan?" "Fine, thanks," Jaypaw replied. Before he had to think of anything else to say, he caught the strong ShadowClan scent of another cat bounding up behind them. "I thought I'd missed you," Littlecloud panted. "We would have waited for you," Leafpool mewed. The cats set off for the Moonpool. Jaypaw felt Kestrelpaw padding along at his side. "Hey, Jaypaw," he began, "what's it like, being blind?" Well, you can't see, mouse-brain! Jaypaw felt his neck fur bristling at the stupid question. "Everything's dark. But I can hear and scent okay, so that's how I find my way around."

大可在自己窝里睡个好觉，不用长途跋涉跑到月池来睡觉。 “你好，松鸦爪，”柳爪轻声说。 她的声音冷淡又礼貌。 “你好，柳爪。” 行吧，我知道你不喜欢我。 我也没那么喜欢你。 “你好，松鸦爪。” 隼爪的语气友善多了。 “雷族的猎物好抓吗？” “还不错，谢谢，”松鸦爪回答。 他还没想好接下来要说什么，就闻到身后跑来一只猫身上浓重的影族气味。 “我还以为我跟不上你们了，”小云喘着气说。 “我们会等你的，”叶池说。 猫咪们动身前往月池。 松鸦爪感觉到隼爪走在自己身侧。 “嘿，松鸦爪，”他开口道，“看不见是什么感觉呀？” 这还用问，当然是看不见啊，蠢货！ 这个愚蠢的问题让松鸦爪气得后颈的毛都竖起来了。 “到处都是一片黑。 不过我的听力和嗅觉都没问题，我靠它们认路。”

"That's really tough." The other apprentice's sympathy made Jaypaw flex his claws. From the sound of his voice and the whisper of his paws on the moorland turf, he had a pretty good idea where Kestrelpaw's ear was. How would you like it slashed, huh? "I manage," he retorted. Quickening his pace, he caught up to Littlecloud; his paws itched to run on ahead but that would draw too much attention to the fact that he walked here in his dreams—when he could see. He couldn't wait to get to the Moonpool. But after he had paced down the spiral track, feeling his paws slip into the paw prints of those long-ago cats, after he had touched his nose to the water and settled himself comfortably, Jaypaw found it hard to sleep. All around the pool he could hear the other cats" breathing sink into the rhythmic patterns of dream-sleep, while he stayed obstinately awake. "Come on," he muttered. "What's the matter with you?" For once he didn't want to enter the

“那真的太不容易了。” 这个学徒的同情让松鸦爪忍不住绷紧了爪子。 从隼爪的说话声，还有爪子踩在荒原草皮上的声响，松鸦爪清楚地知道他的耳朵在哪个位置。 要不要我一爪子划上去，嗯？ “我应付得来，”他反驳道。 他加快步伐，追上了小云； 他爪子痒痒的想冲到前面，但那样会暴露一件事：他是在梦里来这里的，梦里他能看得见。 他迫不及待想要到达月池。 可等他走下螺旋小径，爪子踩着远古猫留下的爪印，鼻子碰过水面舒舒服服躺好后，松鸦爪发现自己根本睡不着。 他能听到池边所有其他猫的呼吸都渐渐变成梦乡里均匀的节奏，只有他一直醒着。 “快睡啊，”他嘟囔着。 “你到底怎么回事？” 这一回，他可不想进入

others" dreams. He wanted a dream of his own: to wake underneath the hill, in the tunnels where he had met Rock and Fallen Leaves. If he didn't manage it now, it would be a whole moon before he had another chance to visit the Moonpool. He closed his eyes, willing sleep to come, but he could still feel the damp rock under his paws and hear the sound of the waterfall and the breathing of the cats around him. Stretching his jaws in a yawn, he opened his eyes again. His fur prickled with excitement as he realized that he could see. Instantly his ears twitched in frustration. He wasn't in the underground cave. Instead, he had never left the Moonpool. He could see the curled- up bodies of his companions and reflected starlight glimmering in the water. "Now what?" he demanded. A quiet voice spoke behind him. "You wanted to speak with me?" Jaypaw spun around, almost tripping over his own paws. Rock stood in front of him. His long, twisted claws scraped on the bare rock. Here in the open, out of the shadows of his cave, his bare

其他猫的梦境。 他想要一个属于自己的梦：在山丘下醒来，就在他遇见岩石和落叶的那些隧道里。 如果这次没能成功，就要再等整整一个月，他才有机会再来月光池。 他闭上眼睛，催自己入睡，可他还能感觉到爪下潮湿的岩石，听得见瀑布声，还有身边群猫的呼吸声。 他张大嘴巴打了个哈欠，又睁开了眼睛。 他兴奋得浑身皮毛发麻，因为他发现自己居然能看见了！ 他的耳朵立刻懊恼地抽动起来。 他并不在地下洞穴里。 恰恰相反，他根本没离开过月光池。 他能看见伙伴们蜷起的身体，粼粼星光倒映在水面上闪闪发亮。 “现在怎么办？”他质问道。 一个轻柔的声音在他身后响起。 “你不是想和我说话吗？” 松鸦爪猛地转过身，差点被自己的爪子绊倒。 岩石站在他面前。 他扭曲的长爪刮蹭着光秃秃的岩石。 在这片开阔地带，离开洞穴的阴影后，他光秃秃的

skin looked raw and painful, and his bulging eyes glowed silver in his disfigured face. With an unexpected quiver of fear, Jaypaw wondered if Rock could see him or if he only sensed his presence. "Why did you stop talking to me?" Jaypaw asked. "I tried and tried, but you wouldn't answer." Rock dismissed the question with a flick of his ratlike tail. "I'm here now," he rasped. "Say what you have to say." "Are you part of StarClan?" Rock blinked. "No. I share tongues with the ones who came before." "You mean the cats like Fallen Leaves, who went into the tunnels to prove themselves?" "No." Rock's voice grated like shifting stones. "More ancient even than those." "Then where did they come from?" Jaypaw meowed, exasperated. "Is there a set of ancestors who are older than all the others? Did we all come from them—Fallen Leaves's cats, and the Tribe cats, and the Clans?" Rock turned his silver gaze on Jaypaw. "There

皮肤看起来红肿疼痛，他畸形脸上鼓出的双眼，在月光下闪着银光。 松鸦爪莫名一阵恐惧发颤，他不知道岩石能不能看见他，还是只能感知到他的存在。 “你为什么不搭理我了？” 松鸦爪问道。 “我试了好多次，你都不回应我。” 岩石甩了甩他老鼠似的尾巴，撇开了这个问题。 “我现在这不来了。”他沙哑地说道。 “有什么话快说吧。” “你是星族的一员吗？” 岩石眨了眨眼。 “不是，我和那些远在你们之前就存在的生灵交流。” “你是说像落叶那样，走进隧道证明自己的猫吗？” “不对。”岩石的声音粗哑得像滚动的石块。 “是比那些猫还要古老得多的存在。” “那他们到底是从哪里来的？” 松鸦爪不耐烦地叫了一声。 “是不是有一群比所有祖先都更古老的先祖？ 我们所有猫都是他们的后代吗——落叶的族群、部落猫，还有我们五大族群？” 岩石把银色的目光投向了松鸦爪。 “这世上