Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 Poppypaw dived forward; Lionpaw could see she was trying to use the move he had taught her in their earlier training session, the one Tigerstar had shown him. But when she tried to hook out Honeypaw's legs from under her, Honeypaw was too fast. Leaping backward, she met Poppypaw head-on and delivered two blows to her nose before darting away. "You'll need to be quicker than that," Berrynose meowed. Lionpaw bristled. Firestar had released the two young warriors from their apprentice duties, but didn't Berrynose have anything better to do than interfere in the training session? He was sprawled on a rock at the edge of the clearing, making loud comments on the apprentices" performance. "That was very good," he remarked condescendingly to Honeypaw. "Your moves are coming along nicely." "Thanks, Berrynose!" Honeypaw blinked adoringly at the cream-colored warrior.

第六章 罂粟爪向前扑去； 狮爪看出来，她正想用之前训练时自己教她的招式，那是虎星教给他的招式。 可当她想绊倒蜜爪时，蜜爪动作太快了。 蜜爪向后一跃，正面迎上罂粟爪，对着她的鼻子拍了两下，再飞快跳开。 “你得再快一点才行，”莓鼻说。 狮爪一下炸了毛。 火星已经让这两个年轻武士不用做学徒的任务了，难道莓鼻除了干扰训练就没别的更好事做吗？ 他四仰八叉躺在空地边缘的石头上，大声对学徒们的表现评头论足。 “做得不错，”他居高临下地对蜜爪说。 “你的招式进步得很快。” “谢谢你，莓鼻！” 蜜爪满眼崇拜地眨着眼，看向这只奶油色皮毛的武士。

Lionpaw stifled a twinge of jealousy. Not long ago, Honeypaw had seemed to like him best. It was hard to lose her admiration so soon after he had been forced to give up his friendship with Heatherpaw. "Your turn, Lionpaw!" Berrynose broke into his thoughts. "Let's see what you can do." Who made you my mentor? Lionpaw glanced around the clearing for Ashfur, who should have been in charge of the training session, but he was several fox-lengths away, demonstrating a move to Hollypaw. "Come on, you lazy lump," Berrynose urged him. "You'll never get to be a warrior sitting on your tail all day." No? Lionpaw gritted his teeth. If I looked at you, I'd think that's all warriors do! "Come on, Cinderpaw," he meowed, beckoning with his tail to the gray apprentice who sat at the side of the clearing. "Let's practice." Cinderpaw bounced up to him, her fur bristling with eagerness and her tail fluffed out. She was moving confidently, Lionpaw thought, as if the leg she had injured felt fine. As she

狮爪压下了一丝嫉妒。 不久之前，蜜爪明明最喜欢他。 他刚被迫和石楠爪断绝来往，这么快就失去了蜜爪的崇拜，实在太难受了。 “该你了，狮爪！” 莓鼻打断了他的思绪。 “让我看看你有什么本事。” 谁让你当我的导师了？ 狮爪扫视空地寻找本该负责训练的灰毛，可灰毛在几狐远之外，正给冬青爪演示招式。 “快来啊，你这个懒家伙，”莓鼻催他。 “整天坐着不动，你永远当不上武士。” 是吗？ 狮爪咬着牙。 我看你整天就是这么闲坐着啊！ “过来，炭爪，”他叫着，用尾巴招呼坐在空地边上的灰色学徒。 “我们来练习。” 炭爪蹦蹦跳跳跑到他跟前，兴奋得毛都竖了起来，尾巴也蓬得圆圆的。 狮爪心想，她走得十分自信，好像受伤的那条腿一点事都没有。 就在她

approached, she aimed a blow at his ear with sheathed claws. He dodged to one side and tried to unbalance her by butting his head into her shoulder, but Cinderpaw stayed on her feet and wrapped her forepaws around his neck, thrusting him to the ground. Lionpaw battered at her belly with his hind paws. After a few heartbeats Cinderpaw let go and sprang away from him, waiting for him to get up again. "That was great!" he panted. He knew he would have won eventually. Cinderpaw was glowing with pride that she was getting her fighting skill back again. "Let's try again!" "You know, Lionpaw, you got that move all wrong," Berrynose interrupted. "You should never have let her knock you over. If that had been a real fight, she could have bitten your throat out." Lionpaw spun around to face him; hot fury flooded through him from ears to tail-tip. "I suppose you found that out when you were fighting ShadowClan," he taunted. Berrynose sprang off the rock, his ears flattened and his neck fur standing on end. "Don't

走近时，她收起爪子，对着他的耳朵拍了一下。 他向旁边一闪，想撞她的肩膀让她失去平衡，可炭爪稳稳站着，伸出前爪环住他的脖子，把他按倒在地。 狮爪用后爪不停拍击她的肚子。 没一会儿，炭爪就松开手跳开，等着他重新站起来。 “太棒了！” 他喘着气说。 他知道再打下去赢的肯定是自己。 炭爪满脸骄傲，她终于重新找回战斗能力了。 “我们再来一次！” “我说狮爪，你刚才那招完全错了，”莓鼻打断了他们。 你根本不该让她把你按倒。 如果这是真的战斗，她早就咬断你的喉咙了。 狮爪猛地转身面对他，愤怒从耳朵一直烧到了尾巴尖。 “我猜你是跟影族打架的时候学到这招的吧？”他嘲讽道。 莓鼻从石头上跳下来，耳朵压得平平的，脖子上的毛全都竖了起来。 “别

talk to a warrior like that!" he spat. "Then stop being such a know-it-all!" Lionpaw retorted. "You're not my mentor, so stay out of my fur." For two mousetails he would have hurled himself at Berrynose and raked his claws across the cream warrior's muzzle. But he knew he would be in big trouble if he attacked a Clanmate for real, not as part of a training bout. Turning his back on Berrynose, he stormed off to the side of the clearing, where he stood with his flanks heaving, trying to control the waves of rage that surged through him. "Just wait till I'm a warrior," he vowed under his breath. "Then I'll show you who's best at fighting." "Take it easy, Lionpaw." The calm voice felt like a draft of cool water. At first Lionpaw thought it must be Tigerstar, and he looked around for the shadowy tabby figure. Instead, he spotted Stormfur sunning himself in a quiet patch of sunlight at the foot of an oak tree. Awkwardly Lionpaw dipped his head to him. "Sorry," he mewed. "But I can't stand it when

跟武士这么说话！” 他怒喷道。 “那你就别装得什么都懂！” 狮爪反驳道。 “你又不是我的导师，别来管我。” 有那么一小会儿，他差点扑向莓鼻，用爪子抓花这个奶油色武士的脸。 可他知道，如果不是训练对打，真的攻击族猫会惹上大麻烦。 他转过身背对莓鼻，气冲冲走到空地边上，站在那儿侧腹不停起伏，努力压下翻涌的怒火。 “等我当上武士，”他小声发誓。 “我会让你看看谁才是最会打架的。” “别激动，狮爪。” 这个平静的声音就像一股凉水浇了下来。 一开始狮爪以为是虎星，他四下寻找那个阴影里的虎斑身影。 结果他看到暴风毛正躺在橡树下一片安静的阳光里晒太阳。 狮爪有些局促地向他低下头致意。 “对不起，”他说。 “可我实在受不了

Berrynose acts like he's Clan leader." Stormfur let out a sympathetic murmur. "I know I shouldn't let him get to me, but I can't help it," Lionpaw confessed. "Sometimes it's the other apprentices too. Well, not Hollypaw, but the rest of them. I feel like I have to be the best all the time." Part of him was horrified that he'd blurted all that out to a senior warrior. There was no reason for Stormfur to care about his problems. "Why?" the gray-furred tom asked. "I don't know why!" Lionpaw hesitated, thoughts battering his mind like a storm, then added, "I suppose I do know, really. It's because I'm Firestar's kin. There's never been a leader like him, and every cat will expect me to be just as good because I'm related to him." "And Tigerstar?" Stormfur prompted. Lionpaw dug his claws into the ground. How could Stormfur possibly know about his meetings with Tigerstar and Hawkfrost? "T-Tigerstar?" he gulped. Stormfur blinked at him. "I know what problems your father had. Brambleclaw was

“莓鼻总摆出一副自己才是族群族长的样子。” 风暴毛发出一声同情的轻喃。 “我知道我不该被他影响，但我就是忍不住，”狮爪坦白道。 “有时候其他学徒也这样。 嗯，冬青爪除外，其他人都这样。 我总觉得我必须一直做最棒的那一个。” 他居然对一位资深武士把这些话全脱口而出，自己都吓了一跳。 风暴毛本来根本没必要关心他的烦恼。 “为什么？”这只灰毛公猫问道。 “我也不知道为什么！” 狮爪犹豫了，各种思绪像风暴一样冲击着他的脑子，接着补充道：“其实我想我真的知道原因。 这是因为我是火星的亲戚。 从来没有哪只族长像他这么出色，就因为我是他的后代，所有猫都期望我能和他一样优秀。” “那虎星呢？” 风暴毛催促他往下说。 狮爪把爪子深深抠进地里。 风暴毛怎么可能知道他和虎星、鹰霜见面的事？ “虎、虎星？”他倒吸一口凉气。 风暴毛眨眨眼看着他。 “我知道你父亲曾经有过很多烦恼。 黑莓掌他

always afraid the Clan would never trust him, because they hated Tigerstar so much." Lionpaw had never thought of that before. It was hard to imagine his father as a young cat, uncertain of his place in the Clan. "What was my father like?" he asked, padding up to Stormfur and sitting beside him in the comforting splash of sunlight. The fur on his shoulders began to lie flat again; he had almost forgotten the quarrel with Berrynose. "What was it like when you went on the quest together?" "Terrifying." Memory glowed in Stormfur's amber eyes, fear and courage, humor and friendship, all at once. "I don't know what was harder—traveling through unfamiliar, dangerous territory, or trying to get along with cats from other Clans. We all came back changed." He paused to rasp his tongue over his shoulder, and then went on. "At first we seemed to argue all the time. But it was usually your father who had the best ideas, and pretty soon we realized that he was the natural leader among us." "Tell me what happened," Lionpaw prompted. "Four cats, one in each Clan, had a dream

一直害怕族群永远不会信任他，因为大家都那么痛恨虎星。” 狮爪之前从来没想过这点。 很难想象父亲年轻时，对自己在族群的位置惴惴不安的样子。 “我父亲以前是什么样子的？”他问道，轻步走到风暴毛身边，挨着他坐在暖融融的阳光里。 他肩膀上炸起的毛慢慢平复了； 他差点都忘了和莓鼻吵架的事了。 “你们一起去寻路的时候是什么样的呀？” “太可怕了。” 回忆在风暴毛琥珀色的眼睛里闪动，恐惧、勇气、幽默和友情一齐涌了上来。 “我都不知道哪件事更难——是穿越陌生危险的领地，还是和其他族群的猫好好相处。 我们回来的时候全都变了。” 他停下来舔了舔肩膀，接着继续往下说。 “一开始我们几乎天天吵架。 但往往你父亲总能想出最好的办法，很快我们就发现，他天生就是我们几个的领袖。” “给我讲讲发生了什么吧，”狮爪催促道。 “四个族群各出一只猫，都做了一个梦