Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 Jaypaw forced his legs to carry him forward to the end of the tunnel. As he emerged, blinking, into brilliant sunlight, several cats crowded around him, mewing excitedly. "Jay's Wing! It is you!" "Well done! You're a sharpclaw now." "Congratulations!" At first Jaypaw couldn't make out individual cats among the press of furry bodies. Then a ginger-and-white she-cat thrust her way through the crowd. Her fur stood on end as she danced on restless paws. "You're lucky Jay's Wing survived the challenge!" she yowled. Her voice quivered with sorrow, and her amber eyes were full of bitterness. "Have you forgotten that Fallen Leaves never came out of the tunnels?" A small gray-and-white she-cat, her belly heavy with kits, padded up to her side and pressed her muzzle into her shoulder. "Come on, Broken Shadow," she murmured. "Let's go find a patch of sunshine to rest in."

第十五章 杰爪强迫自己迈开腿，一直走到隧道尽头。 他眨着眼睛走出隧道，踏入耀眼的阳光，好几只猫兴奋地叫着围了上来。 “松鸦翅！ 真的是你呀！” “太棒啦！ 你现在是锐爪啦。” “恭喜你呀！” 一开始，挤挤挨挨的毛身子里，杰爪根本分不清哪只是哪只猫。 接着，一只姜黄加白的母猫挤开猫群走了出来。 她毛发倒竖，不安地踮着脚来回蹦跳。 “你可真走运，松鸦翅闯过了考验！” 她低吼道。 她的声音因为悲伤发颤，琥珀色的眼睛里满是怨怼。 “你们忘了吗？落叶从来都没从隧道里出来过！” 一只小小的灰白相间母猫，怀着沉甸甸的幼崽，轻轻走到她身边，把鼻子贴在她的肩膀上。 “走吧，碎影，”她轻声说， “我们去找块晒得到太阳的地方歇一歇吧。”

"You don't understand, Rising Moon!" Broken Shadow wailed, but she allowed the other she-cat to lead her away. Jaypaw stared around him, his mind racing. He recognized the way the ground sloped down toward the entrance to the tunnels, but the trees were smaller, letting through the bright sunlight that had dazzled him. The spaces between the trees were mostly clear of undergrowth. It was like his home, yet not like it. Where am I? And who are these strange cats? Has ThunderClan been invaded? He spun around, looking for his Clanmates. Looking? Jaypaw shivered. This feels too real to be a dream. He could feel the wind in his fur and hear the voices of the other cats like birdsong in his ears; his belly was rumbling and his paws dragged as though he had truly been awake all night, searching for a way out of the tunnels in order to become a sharpclaw. A pretty pale gray she-cat bounded up to him, her blue eyes sparkling with affection. She drew her tail down Jaypaw's side. "You're a sharpclaw! It's so exciting!" she

“你根本不懂，升月！” 碎影哭着说，但还是跟着这只母猫走了。 杰爪环顾四周，脑子里飞速思索。 他认得隧道入口处的斜坡，可这里的树更小，透亮的阳光晃得他睁不开眼。 树与树之间几乎没有杂草。 这里既像他的家，又不像。 我这是在哪儿？ 这些陌生猫是谁呀？ 雷族被入侵了吗？ 他转过身，寻找自己的族猫。 找什么呢？ 杰爪打了个寒颤。 这真实得根本不像一场梦啊。 他能感觉到风吹过毛发，其他猫的声音像鸟鸣一样钻进耳朵； 他肚子咕咕叫，爪子也拖不动，就好像真的熬了一整夜，在隧道里找路成为锐爪一样。 一只漂亮的浅灰色母猫蹦到他跟前，蓝眼睛亮闪闪满是欢喜。 她用尾巴轻轻扫过杰爪的腰侧。 “你成锐爪啦！ 太让人开心啦！” 她

meowed, bouncing gently on her paws. Suddenly her tail drooped. "I wish our mother could see you." Jaypaw stiffened. This she-cat was his sister? Who does she think I am? "Perhaps Falcon Swoop can see you." A silver- furred she-cat padded up to Jaypaw. She was slender and graceful, with long legs and brilliant blue eyes. "Do you really think so, Whispering Breeze?" Jaypaw's sister meowed hopefully. "Precious Dove's Wing, you know how much Falcon Swoop loved you and Jay's Wing while she was alive. I'm sure she still loves you, wherever she may be." "I hope so," Dove's Wing murmured. Jaypaw didn't understand. Don't these cats go to StarClan when they die? And why do they all seem to know me? "Look, there's been a mistake," he began. "I'm not who you think I am. And where's ThunderClan?" Whispering Breeze stretched out her neck to give him a sniff. "Are you okay?" she queried. "I

喵呜道，爪子轻轻蹦了蹦。 突然她的尾巴垂了下去。 “真希望咱们妈妈能看到你现在的样子。” 杰爪浑身一僵。 这只母猫是他的姐妹？ 她把我当成谁了？ “说不定猎鹰飞能看到你呢。” 一只银毛母猫走到杰爪身边。 她苗条优雅，长着长腿，还有一双明亮的蓝眼睛。 “你真的这么想吗，微风？” 杰爪的“姐妹”满怀希望地轻声问。 “亲爱的鸽翅，你知道，猎鹰飞活着的时候，多疼爱你和松鸦翅呀。 我敢肯定，不管她现在在哪里，都依然爱着你们。” “但愿如此。”鸽翅轻声说。 杰爪一点都听不懂。 这些猫死后不是都去星族吗？ 为什么他们看起来全都认识我？ “听我说，这里弄错了，”他开口道。 “我不是你们以为的那个人。 雷族在哪里？” 微风伸长鼻子嗅了嗅他。 “你没事吧？” 她问道。 我

think your brain got scrambled down in the tunnels." "What's ThunderClan?" Dove's Wing asked, faintly anxious. "Did Rock tell you about it?" Rock? Jaypaw's belly lurched. Did Dove's Wing know the sightless cat who lived in the tunnels? He was about to ask her, when another cat loomed over him, a dark ginger tabby tom with muscular shoulders and amber eyes. "Don't forget sharpclaws never talk about what goes on in the caves," he warned. "That's a secret they must keep for the rest of their lives." "It's okay, Furled Bracken," Dove's Wing assured him. "Jay's Wing is just a bit confused." Furled Bracken grunted. "Just so long as he remembers what he was told when he went into the tunnels two nights ago." "I haven't been in the tunnels for two nights!" Jaypaw protested. "I—" "We were so worried about you when you didn't come out on the first sunrise," Dove's Wing interrupted. "We thought you'd been lost." "Like Fallen Leaves," a new voice broke in.

觉得你的脑子在隧道里搅糊涂了。” “雷族是什么呀？” 鸽翅问道，声音带着点不安。 “是岩石告诉你的吗？” “岩石？” 杰爪的心猛地一沉。 鸽翅认识那只住在隧道里的瞎眼猫吗？ 他刚要开口问，另一只猫走到他面前，这是只深姜黄色虎斑公猫，肩膀结实，长着琥珀色眼睛。 “别忘了，锐爪绝对不能谈论山洞里发生的事，”他警告道。 “这是他们一辈子都要保守的秘密。” “没关系的，卷蕨，”鸽翅安慰他说。 “松鸦翅只是有点糊涂了而已。” 卷蕨哼了一声。 “只要他还记得两天前进隧道的时候，别人跟他说过什么就行。” “我才没在隧道里待两天！” 杰爪抗议道。 “我——” “第一天日出你没出来的时候，我们都快担心死了，”鸽翅打断了他的话。 “我们还以为你迷路了。” “就像落叶一样，”一个新的声音插了进来。

Jaypaw turned and saw a hefty dark gray tabby tom with glittering ice-blue eyes. Sadness radiated from his pelt. Jaypaw picked up such a strong image of Fallen Leaves from his mind that he guessed this cat must be the drowned cat's father. "Stone Song." Furled Bracken touched the tabby tom's ear with his nose. "I know how hard this is for you." Stone Song sighed. "We waited a moon of sunrises for Fallen Leaves to emerge," he murmured. "But he never came." He glanced across at Broken Shadow, who was lying under a tree not far off. Rising Moon crouched beside her, grooming her gently like a mother with her kit. "It is time to give up waiting," Stone Song finished quietly. Jaypaw stared at the dark gray tabby. How can it be only one moon since Fallen Leaves disappeared? If that's true, it means this must be long ago! Somehow he had emerged from the tunnels during the time before the Clan cats came to the lake, maybe even as far back as when the ancient cats trod the path to the Moonpool.

松鸦爪转过身，看见一只健壮的深灰色虎斑公猫，长着一双亮晶晶的冰蓝色眼睛。 悲伤从他周身散发出来。 松鸦爪从他脑海里感知到了落叶清晰的影像，他猜这只猫一定是那只溺水猫的父亲。 “石歌。” 卷蕨用鼻子碰了碰这只虎斑公猫的耳朵。 “我知道这对你来说有多难熬。” 石歌叹了口气。 “我们等了整整一个月的日出，等落叶出来，”他低声说。 可他再也没有回来。” 他望向不远处躺在树下的断影。 升月蹲在她身旁，像母猫对幼崽那样轻轻给她梳理毛发。 “是时候不要再等了，”石歌轻声说完这句话。 松鸦爪盯着这只深灰色虎斑猫。 落叶失踪居然才只不过一个月？ 如果这是真的，那说明这一切都发生在很久很久以前！ 不知怎的，他居然在族群猫来到湖区之前就从地道出来了，甚至可能回到了远古猫踏往月亮池的那个时代。

The stick! Jaypaw felt every hair on his pelt rise. I'm among the cats who are marked on the stick! He looked back at the mouth of the tunnel. It looked different now, because it was on exposed hillside rather than surrounded by thick undergrowth, but he had sensed its shape when he walked through it to find the WindClan kits, and he was sure it was the same tunnel. Turning, he looked down at the lake, its glinting surface clearly visible through the trees. The shape of the water was familiar, but when he looked across to the flank of WindClan territory, he spotted Twolegs swarming over a mound of pale brown earth, pushing it around with yellow monsters. Their roaring hung in the air like the buzzing of bumblebees. Jaypaw padded forward to the edge of the slope to take a closer look. A moment later, Furled Bracken joined him. "The Twolegs are still moving the earth," he meowed worriedly. "Chasing Clouds and I went down there to check it out, but we still don't know what they're doing."

那根棍子！ 松鸦爪感觉浑身的毛都竖起来了。 我居然就在那根棍子上标记过的猫群里！ 他回头望向地道的入口。 现在这里看起来不一样了，因为它裸露在山坡上，四周没有茂密的灌丛，不过他之前来找风族幼崽的时候已经摸清了它的轮廓，他确定这就是同一条地道。 他转过身低头看向湖泊，波光粼粼的湖面透过树林清晰可见。 湖水的轮廓很熟悉，可当他望向风族领地对岸，他看见两脚兽挤在一堆浅棕色的土堆上，用黄色怪物来回推土。 它们的轰鸣声像大黄蜂的嗡嗡声一样萦绕在空中。 松鸦爪慢慢走到斜坡边缘，想凑近看看。 不一会儿，卷蕨就走到了他身边。 “两脚兽还在搬土，”他担忧地喵道。 “我和追云去那儿看过了，可我们还是不知道它们在干什么。”