Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 Hollyleaf blinked in surprise when she woke among the stone walls of the Twoleg nest instead of under the branches of the warriors" den in the ThunderClan camp. Then she remembered their journey to find Sol, and how Jingo had brought them to this abandoned Twoleg nest to save them from the dogs. As Hollyleaf sat up, her brother yawned and stretched. "I don't like this place," he muttered. "It's time we left." Hollyleaf murmured agreement. It wasn't right for warriors to be so close to all this Twoleg stuff, even though there were no Twolegs here. The pale light of dawn flooded into the den through the gap in the wall. Looking around, Hollyleaf saw that Birchfall and Hazeltail were still asleep. Brackenfur was perched on the ledge under the gap where Hussar had sat the night before. There was no sign of Brambleclaw, but a moment later he sprang up from outside and squeezed through the gap to sit beside Brackenfur.

第十三章 冬青叶醒来时，发现自己没躺在雷族营地武士巢穴的树枝下，而是待在两脚兽巢穴的石墙之间，她惊讶地眨了眨眼。 接着她想起了他们寻找索尔的旅程，也想起金果为了救他们躲开狗群，把他们带到了这座废弃的两脚兽巢穴。 冬青叶坐起身时，她的哥哥打了哈欠，伸了个懒腰。 “我不喜欢这个地方，”他嘟囔道。 “我们该走了。” 冬青叶低声表示同意。 哪怕这里没有两脚兽，武士离这么多两脚兽的东西这么近，总归不对劲。 淡淡的曙光透过墙缝涌进了巢穴。 冬青叶环顾四周，看到桦落和榛尾还在睡梦中。 蕨毛正蹲在墙缝下方的岩架上，也就是昨天胡萨待过的地方。 一开始没看到黑莓掌，可没过一会儿，他就从外面跳了上来，挤过墙缝，坐到了蕨毛身边。

"All's quiet," he reported. "But there's a strong smell of dog." Hollyleaf twitched her whiskers; she could pick up the rank scent even here. "We have to get moving," Brackenfur meowed. "Have you seen Jingo?" Brambleclaw shook his head. Speckle and her kits were curled up in a furry heap on one of the soft boulders, while Fritz and Pod were sleeping on the other. There was no sign of the other Twolegplace cats. "She'll be here somewhere." Brambleclaw jumped down inside the nest. "I think we can trust her." He padded over to prod Birchfall and Hazeltail awake. As the two younger warriors were blinking sleep away, Jingo padded in through the entrance to the den. "Good, you're ready," she mewed, with a brisk nod of greeting. "Let's go." She led the way into the Twoleg territory through the gap in the wall. "This journey's going to be a bit different," she warned the Clan cats when they were all in the raw, damp air of the

“四周都很安静，”他报告说。 “但狗的气味很重。” 冬青叶抖了抖胡须，哪怕在这里她都能闻到那刺鼻的气味。 “我们得赶紧出发了，”蕨毛开口说道。 “你见过金果了吗？” 黑莓掌摇了摇头。 丝斑和她的幼崽团成一团毛球，缩在一块软石上睡觉，弗里茨和波德睡在另一块软石上。 其他来自两脚兽地盘的猫都不见踪影。 “她肯定就在这附近什么地方。” 黑莓掌跳进了巢穴里。 “我觉得我们可以信任她。” 他走过去推醒了桦落和榛尾。 两个年轻武士正揉着眼睛赶走睡意时，金果从巢穴入口走了进来。 “太好了，你们都准备好了，”她轻快地点头打招呼，开口说道。 “我们走吧。” 她带领大家穿过墙缝，走进了两脚兽领地。 “这次赶路会有点不一样，”她提醒族群猫，此时所有人都已经置身阴冷潮湿的

leaf-bare morning. "We won't be setting paw to the ground until we get where we're going." Hollyleaf shot a startled glance at her Clanmates, and saw that they were all looking equally surprised. How could they get anywhere if their paws didn't touch the ground? Was Jingo expecting them to fly? "It's not safe to walk around on the ground since the battle with the dogs," Jingo explained. "The dogs lie in wait for us and hunt us like prey." Shuddering, Hollyleaf leaned closer to Lionblaze. "That's exactly what happened to us yesterday." Her brother nodded; his amber eyes were gleaming and his claws flexed as if he was imagining his chance to slash a dog that attacked him or his Clanmates. Better to stay out of their way, Hollyleaf thought. "So we've found a different way of moving around our territory," Jingo went on. Gracefully she leaped up onto the top of the Twoleg fence. "Ready?" she called, glancing over her shoulder at the Clan cats. Brambleclaw quickly leaped up beside her,

落叶季清晨。 “我们不用把爪子碰到地面，就能一直走到目的地。” 冬青叶惊讶地扫了族伴们一眼，发现大家全都和她一样吃惊。 爪子不碰地，他们怎么可能走到目的地呢？ 金果难道还指望他们飞着去吗？ “自从和狗群开战之后，在地面行走太不安全了，”金果解释道。 “狗会埋伏在这里，把我们当猎物追捕。” 冬青叶打了个哆嗦，往狮焰身边靠了靠。 “昨天我们就碰到这种事了。” 她哥哥点了点头； 他琥珀色的眼睛闪闪发亮，爪子不停伸缩，好像已经在预想，如果有狗袭击他或者族伴，他要怎么撕碎对方。 最好还是躲开这些狗，冬青叶心想。 “所以我们找到了在领地里活动的新办法，”金果继续说道。 她轻盈地跳上了两脚兽围栏的顶端。 “准备好了吗？”她回头看向族群猫，喊道。 黑莓掌立刻跳上去，落在了她身旁，

followed by the rest of the patrol. Jingo set off, balancing easily on the narrow fence, then turning a corner to pad past several Twoleg dens, with a small Thunderpath on the other side. Hollyleaf stiffened as the door to one of the Twoleg nests opened and a little white dog bolted out; its high-pitched yapping filled the air. "It's okay," Jingo reassured the Clan cats. "That's a housedog. It's a stupid nuisance, just like all the others, but it's not dangerous like the wild dogs." Hollyleaf had to take her word for it, but as she watched the dog bounding along the bottom of the fence and scrabbling about in the earth under a bush, she was glad that she wasn't down below where it could get at her. She dug her claws more firmly into the narrow strip of wood under her paws and focused on the tip of Lionblaze's tail. The fence came to an end at a row of small dens with flat roofs. "These are monster nests," Jingo told them, leaping up onto the nearest roof. "Monsters have nests?" Hazeltail exclaimed. "Sure." Jingo waved her tail to where a Twoleg

巡逻队的其他成员跟在后面。 金果出发了，她在窄窄的围栏上轻松保持平衡，接着拐过一个弯，沿着围栏经过好几座两脚兽巢穴，围栏另一侧是一条小雷路。 其中一座两脚兽巢穴的门打开，一只白色小狗冲了出来，冬青叶顿时浑身绷紧； 它尖厉的吠叫声传遍了四周。 “没事的，”金果安慰族群猫们。 “这是家养狗。 它和所有其他狗一样，只不过是个讨厌的笨蛋，但它不像野狗那样危险。” 冬青叶只能暂且相信金果的话，可当她看着这只狗在围栏底下乱跑，在灌木下的泥土里乱扒乱抓，她很庆幸自己不在下面，不会被它够到。 她把爪子更用力地抓进爪下窄窄的木条，目光一直落在狮焰的尾巴尖上。 围栏到了尽头，前方是一排顶着平顶的小巢穴。 “这些是怪兽的巢穴，”金果一边告诉他们，一边跳上了最近的那个屋顶。 “怪兽还有巢穴？” 榛尾惊呼道。 “当然。” 金果摆了摆尾巴，指向一只两脚兽所在的方向

was approaching at the edge of the Thunderpath. "Watch." The Clan cats jumped up onto the roof beside her and watched the Twoleg as it opened the door of one of the dens and vanished inside. A moment later they heard the throaty growl of a monster. It nosed its way out of the den and headed down the Thunderpath, with the Twoleg in its belly. "Great StarClan, this is where they sleep!" Birchfall's neck fur was bristling. "Yes, but they can't climb up here," Jingo meowed. "Let's get on." The patrol easily bounded across the flat roofs until the cats came to another fence and more Twoleg dens. Daylight was strengthening and a stiff wind had sprung up; Hollyleaf gripped with her claws at every step, scared that she would be blown off her skinny perch. So this was what Jingo meant by not setting paw on the ground. Not flying, but staying high up, out of reach of the wild dogs. She tried to imagine not daring to set paw on the ground in the forest, and having to leap from tree to tree to avoid being chased and killed.

它正沿着雷鬼路的边缘一步步靠近。 "看好了。" 族群猫跳到她身旁的屋顶，看着那只两脚兽打开一间兽穴的门，消失在了里面。 没过多久，他们就听见了怪兽低沉的轰鸣。 它慢慢从兽穴里挪出来，沿着雷鬼路开走了，那只两脚兽就在它的肚子里。 "伟大的星族啊，这居然是他们睡觉的地方！" 桦落的颈毛都炸了起来。 "没错，但他们爬不上来这里，"金戈喵声道。 "我们继续走吧。" 巡逻队轻松地跃过平坦的屋顶，这群猫很快来到另一道栅栏前，这里还有更多两脚兽的巢穴。 天色越来越亮，刮起了一阵强劲的风； 冬青叶每一步都紧紧抠住墙面，生怕被风从这窄窄的落脚点吹下去。 原来这就是金戈说的不能踩地的意思。 不是飞行，而是一直待在高处，让野狗够不到自己。 她试着想象，在森林里都不敢落爪，只能在树间跳来跳去躲避追杀是什么滋味。

No cat should be forced to live like this. At the next corner, the fence gave way to a wall built of red stone; the top was wider and it was easier to pad along. The Thunderpath here was wider too, with stone trees growing at both edges, and a few monsters prowling along it. Every so often the wall was interrupted by a lower section of wooden fence; Jingo slid down onto it, padded quickly across, and leaped up onto the wall on the other side. The Clan cats followed. Hollyleaf's pelt prickled with fear as she remembered how the dog pack had leaped the low fence the day before; but no dogs appeared, and every cat reached the other side of the wooden fence safely. Farther along the wall, Jingo halted; peering past her, Hollyleaf saw that one of the wooden sections had been swung back, leaving a gap between their stretch of wall and the next. As if at a signal, a flurry of barking broke out somewhere behind them, and a gust of wind brought the scent of dogs. "We'll have to jump," Jingo decided. "Get back a bit; leave me space for a running start."

没有猫该被迫过这样的日子。 走到下一个拐角，栅栏换成了红石块砌成的墙； 墙顶更宽，走起来也舒服多了。 这里的雷鬼路也更宽，路边长着石树，几只怪兽在路上慢慢穿行。 这道墙每隔一段就会接上一段更低的木栅栏； 金戈溜下去，快步穿过，一跃跳上了对面的墙。 族群猫们跟了上去。 冬青叶吓得汗毛都竖起来了，她想起昨天那群狗是怎么跳过矮栅栏的； 不过没有狗出现，所有猫都平安走到了木栅栏的另一边。 沿着墙再往前走一段，金戈停了下来； 冬青叶从她身后探出头，看见一段木栅栏被挪开了，在两段墙之间留下了一个缺口。 就像接到信号一样，一阵狗吠突然从身后传来，风里也飘来了狗的气味。 "我们必须跳过去，"金戈下定决心说。 "往后退一点，给我留出助跑的空间。"