Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 "Thanks, Jayfeather," Whitewing purred as Jayfeather dropped a leaf wrap of ragwort in front of her. The nursery was warm and quiet. Daisy and Millie had taken their kits out for some exercise, leaving the white queen to get some rest. "Make sure to eat it all," Jayfeather instructed her. "Your kits will be born soon, and you need all the strength you can get." "I know." Whitewing sighed. "I hope it's not much longer. I feel huge!" "You're fine," Jayfeather assured her. He said good-bye and pushed his way out of the nursery. The morning was crisp but he could feel the weak rays of leaf-bare sun, melting the night frost. "Now," he muttered to himself, "if only Leafpool's still out looking for yarrow..." He couldn't pick up his mentor's scent when he brushed past the bramble screen into the den, but another cat was there, irritation coming off him in waves.

第十五章 “谢谢你，松鸦羽。” 白翼轻声咕噜着，松鸦羽把一包款冬叶放在她面前。 育婴室温暖又安静。 黛西和米莉带她们的幼崽出去活动了，留下白翼好好休息。 “一定要全部吃完。”松鸦羽叮嘱她。 “你的幼崽很快就要出生了，你得攒足所有力气。” “我知道。” 白翼叹了口气。 “真希望快点生， 我感觉自己快胀开了！” “你没事的。”松鸦羽安慰她。 他道别后挤出了育婴室。 早晨空气清爽，他能感受到秃季淡淡的阳光，正在融化夜里的霜冻。 “好了，”他喃喃自语，“希望叶池还在外边找欧蓍草……” 当他挤过荆条帘走进巢穴时，没闻到导师的气味，但这里有另一只猫，浑身上下都散发着烦躁的气息。

Mouse dung! Jayfeather thought. Now I'll have to deal with him. "Berrynose," he mewed. "What can I do for you?" "It's my tail," the young warrior told him. "It hurts. And it smells funny." Jayfeather sniffed at the stump of Berrynose's tail, and almost recoiled at the rotting scent. "You've got an infection," he reported. "How?" Berrynose sounded indignant. "Leafpool said that it healed after I caught it in the fox trap." "It did," Jayfeather agreed. "You must have opened up the wound again. Can you remember catching it on anything lately?" Berrynose hesitated. "I got stuck in some brambles when I was chasing a rabbit," he admitted at last. "That could do it," Jayfeather mewed. "But there's nothing to worry about. You need a poultice of marigold, that's all. Wait there a moment." He padded into the cave where the herbs were stored, and located the marigold. Chewing up the leaves, he returned to Berrynose.

老鼠屎！ 松鸦羽心想。 这下又得应付他了。 “莓鼻。”他喵声道。 “我能帮你做什么？” “我的尾巴出问题了。”年轻武士告诉他。 “很疼。 而且闻起来怪怪的。” 松鸦羽嗅了嗅莓鼻断尾的根部，那腐坏的气味差点让他退开。 “你这是感染了。”他说。 “怎么会？” 莓鼻听起来很愤愤不平。 “叶池说我之前被狐狸陷阱夹到之后尾巴已经愈合了。” “之前确实愈合了。”松鸦羽赞同道。 “你肯定是又把伤口弄裂开了。 你还记得最近勾到什么东西了吗？” 莓鼻犹豫了。 “我追兔子的时候被荆棘卡住了。”他最后还是承认了。 “那就对了。”松鸦羽说。 不过你不用担心。 你只需要敷点金盏草药膏，就这么简单。 在这里等我一会儿。” 他快步走进储存药草的洞穴，找到了金盏草。 把叶子嚼碎后，他回到了莓鼻身边。

"Keep still while I plaster this on," he mumbled around the mouthful. "Can I be excused from duties?" the cream- colored warrior asked hopefully. Jayfeather was unsympathetic. "No. You don't patrol or catch prey with your tail. But come back here tomorrow and I'll put a fresh poultice on." "Okay," Berrynose mewed. "Thanks, Jayfeather. It does feel better." Right, Jayfeather thought when he had gone. Now for my plan... He went back into the cave and collected a few leaves of chervil, dandelion, and borage. Bounding across to the elders" den, he set the leaves down in front of Mousefur. "Are any of these the herb?" he demanded. Mousefur let out an annoyed hiss. "What herb?" Without the bunch of leaves in his mouth, Jayfeather could smell fresh-kill, and he guessed he had interrupted the elders" meal. "The herb you told me about, the one Leafpool mixed with your tansy." "Oh, that." The skinny elder still sounded grumpy. "What do you want to know for?"

“别动，我给你敷上。”他含着叶子含糊地说。 “我可以不用出任务吗？” 这只奶油色的武士满怀期待地问。 松鸦羽毫不同情。 “不行，你又不用尾巴巡逻或者捕猎。 不过明天过来这里，我给你换个新药膏。” “好吧。”莓鼻说。 “谢谢你，松鸦羽。 现在已经感觉好多了。” 莓鼻走后，松鸦羽暗自想：好了。 现在该执行我的计划了…… 他走回洞穴，收集了几片雪维菜、蒲公英和琉璃苣的叶子。 他快步走到长老巢穴，把叶子放在鼠毛面前。 “这里面有没有你说的那种药草？”他问道。 鼠毛恼怒地嘶了一声。 “什么药草？” 嘴里没叼着叶子了，松鸦羽闻到了新鲜猎物的气味，他猜到自己打断了长老们的用餐。 “就是你跟我说过的那种，叶池混在你的艾菊里的那种。” “哦，那个啊。” 这位瘦骨嶙峋的长老听起来还是很不高兴。 “你问这个做什么？”

"Just curious." Jayfeather realized he had sounded too urgent. He didn't want Mousefur to tell Leafpool what he was doing. "You never know, it might be useful." Mousefur let out a grunt and gave the herbs a suspicious sniff. "Let me try, too," Longtail offered. "I didn't taste the stuff, but I might remember the scent." "Well?" Jayfeather asked, when both elders had given the herbs a good sniff. "No, it wasn't any of those," Mousefur meowed. "I know these herbs. Leafpool uses them all the time for fever and infected wounds." "That's right," Longtail added. "Sorry." Jayfeather suppressed a frustrated sigh. "Not even this one?" he asked, pushing forward the chervil. "What part of "no" didn't you understand?" Mousefur growled, giving his ear a stinging flick with her tail. "Okay." Jayfeather gathered up the herbs again. "Thanks. I'll bring some more later." "Give us the chance to finish this rabbit first!" Mousefur called after him as he left the den.

“就是好奇而已。” 松鸦羽意识到自己刚才语气太急切了。 他不想让鼠毛告诉叶池他在做什么。 “说不定什么时候就用上了呢，谁知道啊。” 鼠毛咕哝了一声，怀疑地嗅了嗅这些药草。 “我也来试试。”长尾主动提议。 “我没尝过那东西，但我可能记得它的气味。” “怎么样？” 两位长老都好好闻过一遍之后，松鸦羽问道。 “不对，这里面没有那种。”鼠毛说。 “这些我都认识。 叶池经常用它们退烧和治疗感染的伤口。” “没错。”长尾补充道。 “对不起，我们没闻出来。” 松鸦羽压住了沮丧的叹息。 “这片也不是吗？”他一边问，一边把雪维菜推到前面。 “我说‘没有’你听不懂吗？” 鼠毛吼道，还用尾巴狠狠抽了一下他的耳朵。 “好吧。” 松鸦羽又把药草收了起来。 “谢谢。 我下次再带些过来。” “先让我们把这只兔子吃完再说！” 松鸦羽走出巢穴的时候，鼠毛在他身后喊道。

Jayfeather returned to his own den, intent on finding more herbs for Mousefur and Longtail to try. But he had just replaced the chervil, dandelion, and borage in their proper places when he heard Leafpool enter the den behind him. A strong scent of yarrow came with her. "Jayfeather, what are you doing?" she asked sharply. "Why do you smell as if you've been sleeping in our supplies?" "Uh... I fell over in the store," Jayfeather stammered. "I got herb dust on my pelt." Leafpool let out a long sigh. "Really, Jayfeather, it's like having a kit in here! And why were you poking around in the store anyway?" Jayfeather felt his pelt rising at the anxiety and fear that was flooding from his mentor. Why doesn't she want me looking in the store? he wondered. I've as much right to be in there as she has! What is she hiding now? "I wasn't poking around," he retorted. "And I cleaned the stuff up." Leafpool sniffed. "Put this yarrow away, then," she ordered. "I want to go check on Millie's breathing. She's out there romping around with

松鸦羽回到自己的巢穴，一心想多找些药草给鼠毛和长尾试试。 可他刚把欧芹、蒲公英和琉璃苣放回原位，就听见叶池走进了他身后的巢穴。 浓烈的蓍草香味随她飘了进来。 "松鸦羽，你在干什么？" 她厉声问道。 "你身上怎么闻着像是在我们的药草堆里睡过？" "呃……我在储藏堆里绊倒了，"松鸦羽结结巴巴地说。 "药草粉沾到我毛上了。" 叶池长长地叹了一口气。 "说真的，松鸦羽，这里简直跟待了只幼崽一样！ 你到底为什么要在储藏室里乱翻啊？" 导师身上涌出的焦虑和恐惧让松鸦羽浑身的毛都竖了起来。 为什么她不让我在储藏室里找东西？ 他心里纳闷。 我和她一样有资格待在这里！ 她这次又在藏什么东西？ "我才没乱翻，"他反驳道。 "而且我已经把东西都收拾好了。" 叶池哼了一声。 "那把这蓍草收起来，"她命令道。 "我要去看看米莉的呼吸情况。 她在外头和

her kits, and it might be too much for her." Once Leafpool had gone, Jayfeather tidied away the yarrow and slipped out a daisy leaf and a sliver of burdock root. If it's either of these, I'm a mouse! Making sure that Leafpool was over by the nursery with Millie, he hurried back to the elders" den. "You again!" Mousefur muttered. "What is it this time?" She sniffed briefly at each of the herbs Jayfeather put in front of her, and tasted the daisy leaf. "No," she mewed. "It wasn't them." Longtail came over for a sniff, but he didn't recognize the herbs either. Jayfeather sighed. "Okay, we'll keep trying." "I think you've got bees in your brain," Mousefur meowed as she settled down for a nap. Jayfeather was eating a vole near the fresh-kill pile when he heard Firestar padding past him, on his way to the medicine cats" den. Gulping down the last couple of mouthfuls, he followed, standing just outside the bramble screen so that he could hear what the Clan leader had to say.

她的幼崽玩耍，这对她来说可能运动量太大了。" 叶池走后，松鸦羽把蓍草整理好，偷偷拿出一片雏菊叶和一小块牛蒡根。 如果这俩能对上，我就是只小老鼠！ 确认叶池已经跟着米莉去育婴室了，他连忙赶回长老巢穴。 "怎么又是你！" 鼠毛嘟囔道。 "这次又是什么？" 她对着松鸦羽放在面前的每株药草闻了闻，还尝了尝雏菊叶。 "不对，"她喵喵说道。 "不是它们。" 长尾也过来闻了闻，可他也没认出这些药草。 松鸦羽叹了口气。 "好吧，我们再接着找。" "我看你是脑子里进蜜蜂了吧，"鼠毛一边说一边蜷起来准备打盹。 松鸦羽正在新鲜猎物堆旁吃一只田鼠，忽然听见火星从他身边走过，往巫医巢穴去了。 他咽下最后几口田鼠，跟了上去，站在荆棘帘外刚好能听见这位族长说的话。