Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28 Jayfeather slid through the thorn tunnel and stood panting in the middle of the clearing. He had raced back from the island as soon as the Gathering broke up, struggling through the mass of bewildered cats to get across the tree-bridge. He scented Leafpool leaving their den; right now she was the last cat he wanted to talk to. Beyond her, fainter, he picked up Hollyleaf's scent. What's she doing in our den? What did she say to Leafpool? Darting across the clearing, he crashed through the brambles and confronted his littermate. "Hollyleaf! What are you doing here?" Sniffing, he detected another scent. "Why are those deathberries out here?" "Leave me alone!" Hollyleaf screeched. Before Jayfeather could dodge, she leaped at him, bowling him over and raking her claws across his shoulder. Jayfeather's legs flailed and his hind paws connected with Hollyleaf's belly. Her anger

第28章 松鸦羽滑过荆棘隧道，气喘吁吁地站在空地中央。 森林大会刚散，他就从岛上往回飞奔，挤过一大群困惑不已的猫，好不容易穿过了树桥。 他闻出叶池刚刚离开巢穴，眼下她是他最不想说话的对象。 在她的气味后方，他还闻到了更淡的冬青叶的气味。 她来我们的巢穴做什么？ 她对叶池说了什么？ 他窜过空地，撞开荆棘，冲到了同窝妹妹面前。 “冬青叶！ 你在这里做什么？” 他嗅了嗅，察觉到了另一种气味。 “这些死亡浆果为什么会在这里？” “别烦我！” 冬青叶尖声叫道。 松鸦羽还没来得及躲闪，她就扑了过来，把他撞倒在地，爪子狠狠划过他的肩膀。 松鸦羽乱蹬着四肢，后爪刚好拍到了冬青叶的肚子。 她的愤怒

and despair flooded over him as she gave him a cuff over the ear and fled out of the den. "Hollyleaf, wait!" Jayfeather scrambled to his paws and launched himself after her. When he emerged into the clearing, Hollyleaf was already plunging into the thorn tunnel. Jayfeather raced after her, his belly fur brushing the ground as he broke out into the forest. The scents of more cats greeted him as the rest of the Gathering patrol returned to the camp. "Jayfeather, what's wrong?" Lionblaze called out. He turned and bounded along beside him. "What's happening?" he gasped. "It's Hollyleaf," Jayfeather panted. "We've got to catch her." Hollyleaf was heading deep into the forest, crashing through bracken and brambles as if she had suddenly lost her sight. "Hollyleaf, come back!" Lionblaze yowled. "We need to talk!" But Hollyleaf didn't slacken her pace. Briefly she burst out onto the old Twoleg path that led past the abandoned den, then veered into the undergrowth again.

还有绝望将他淹没，冬青叶扇了他的耳朵一巴掌，便冲出了巢穴。 “冬青叶，等等！” 松鸦羽急忙爬起来，拔腿追了上去。 等他冲到空地上，冬青叶已经冲进了荆棘隧道。 松鸦羽紧追不舍，冲进森林的时候，腹毛都擦到了地面。 参加森林大会的巡逻队回到营地，更多猫的气味飘了过来。 “松鸦羽，出什么事了？” 狮焰大声问道。 他转过身，跳到松鸦羽身边跟着跑。 “出什么事了？”他喘着气问。 “是冬青叶，”松鸦羽喘着气说。 “我们得追上她。” 冬青叶往森林深处冲去，横冲直撞穿过蕨类和荆棘，就像突然瞎了一样。 “冬青叶，回来！” 狮焰吼道。 “我们得谈谈！” 可冬青叶丝毫没有放慢脚步。 她冲出来跑到废弃巢穴旁那条旧两脚兽小径上，没多久又拐进了灌木丛。

"I know where she's going!" Jayfeather panted, feeling a chill run through him. "The old tunnels..." "But she can't!" Lionblaze sounded terrified. "Hollyleaf, stop!" Racing around a bramble thicket, Jayfeather and Lionblaze came face-to-face with their sister; she had halted just inside the mouth of a tunnel halfway up the ridge, above the abandoned Twoleg nest. It wasn't one Jayfeather had used before; there was a stale scent of fox, overlaid with the smell of water and stone drifting from the darkness behind her. Jayfeather tried to speak calmly. "Hollyleaf, you've got to listen to us." Hollyleaf didn't seem to hear. "I'm sorry," she meowed softly. "I was only trying to do what was best. I couldn't let Ashfur live! For all our sakes! You understand that, don't you?" Jayfeather caught his breath. Beside him, he heard Lionblaze gasp, "You killed Ashfur?" If Hollyleaf replied, Jayfeather didn't hear it. Hating his power more than he ever had before, he had reached out to his sister's memories. She

“我知道她要去哪里！” 松鸦羽喘着气，一阵寒意穿过了他的全身。 “那些旧隧道……” “可她不能去那里！” 狮焰的声音充满了恐惧。 “冬青叶，停下！” 他们绕过荆棘丛，松鸦羽和狮焰终于和妹妹面对面遇上了； 她停在山脊半腰的隧道口，就在废弃两脚兽巢穴上方，刚好在洞口内侧。 这条隧道松鸦羽之前从来没走过； 洞里飘出一股陈旧的狐狸气味，还混着从她身后黑暗里飘来的水和石头的味道。 松鸦羽努力让自己语气平静。 “冬青叶，你得听我们说。” 冬青叶好像根本没听见。 “对不起，”她轻声说。 “我只是想做对大家最好的事。 我不能留着灰毛活！ 都是为了我们所有人！ 你能理解的，对不对？” 松鸦羽倒吸了一口冷气。 他听见身旁的狮焰倒抽一口气：“你杀了灰毛？” 就算冬青叶回答了，松鸦羽也没听见。 他前所未有地憎恨自己的能力，探进了妹妹的记忆里。 她

was stalking Ashfur along the WindClan border stream, treading lightly, avoiding boulders where her claws might scrape or ferns that would brush against her fur. Ashfur, intent on hunting, never noticed she was there. Hollyleaf followed him like a shadow until they came to a place where the bank was steep and slippery, and the stream was a foaming snake far below. She pounced on him from a rock, gripping his shoulders with her forepaws and twisting her head around to sink her teeth into his throat. Inside the red mist that clouded her senses, Ashfur was nothing but prey, something that had to be killed to protect the warrior code and the future of her Clan. Ashfur clawed feebly at her, but blood was gushing from his throat. His body went limp and Hollyleaf leaped away, letting it crash into the stream. She stood watching it for a while, until the swift-flowing water had washed away the blood. Then she padded up to a pool of water on top of the bank and rinsed her paws, turning the water red. Behind her, Ashfur's body bobbed against the bank before floating away downstream.

正沿着风族边境的溪流悄悄跟踪灰毛，放轻脚步，避开会刮到爪子的巨石，也躲开会蹭到皮毛的蕨草。 灰毛专心捕猎，完全没发现她就在身旁。 冬青叶像影子一样跟着他，一直走到一处河岸陡滑的地方，湍急的溪流在下方像一条冒着白沫的长蛇。 她从一块石头上扑向他，前爪按住他的肩膀，扭过头一口咬住了他的喉咙。 她的感官被血雾笼罩，灰毛在她眼里只是猎物，为了保护武士守则和族群的未来，他必须死。 灰毛无力地抓着她，可鲜血已经从他喉咙里喷涌出来。 他的身体瘫软下去，冬青叶跳开，任由他掉进了溪流里。 她站在那里看了好一会儿，直到湍急的水流把血迹都冲干净。 接着她走到河岸上方的水潭边，洗了洗爪子，把潭水都染成了红色。 在她身后，灰毛的尸体撞了一下河岸，接着就往下游漂走了。

"He should have been swept into the lake and never seen again." Hollyleaf's voice wrenched Jayfeather out of her terrible memories. "But they found him, and now everything is ruined. I can't stay here." Despair vibrated in her voice. "I know I did the right thing, but no cat will ever understand." There was a patter of paws as she turned and fled down the tunnel. Running forward, Jayfeather could hear the roaring of the river underground, pounding hungrily against the stone. "Hollyleaf, no!" he yowled. "We can figure this out together—" A deafening rumble interrupted him; it went on and on. He pictured wet soil and rock raining down as the tunnel collapsed, crashing onto his sister, knocking her to the floor, crushing her, burying her... He darted forward. "Hollyleaf!" Lionblaze charged into him, knocking him off his paws and pinning him down; Jayfeather writhed furiously underneath him. "Let me up!" he screeched. "We have to get her out!" "We can't help her," Lionblaze growled. "The tunnel has collapsed. There's no way we can

"他本该被冲进湖里，再也没人能见到他。" 冬青叶的声音把松鸦羽从可怕的回忆中拽了出来。 "可他们找到了他，现在一切都毁了。 我再也待不下去了。" 绝望在她的声音里不住发颤。 "我知道我做的是对的，可没有猫会理解我。" 她转身逃进隧道，传来一阵细碎的脚步声。 松鸦羽往前追去，能听到地下河水轰鸣，正贪婪地不断撞击着岩壁。 "冬青叶，不要！"他吼道。 "我们可以一起想办法——"一阵震耳欲聋的隆隆声打断了他，响声久久不停。 他眼前浮现出隧道崩塌的画面：湿土和岩石纷纷落下，砸向他的姐姐，把她击倒在地，碾压她，埋葬她…… 他猛冲上前。 "冬青叶！" 狮焰猛地撞向他，把他撞倒在地，死死按在地上； 松鸦羽在他身下拼命挣扎。 "放开我！" 他尖声叫道。 "我们得把她救出来！" "我们帮不了她了，"狮焰低吼道。 "隧道已经崩塌了。 我们根本没办法

follow her in." Jayfeather lay still, panting, as the tumult of falling earth and stones died away. In the silence, Lionblaze stepped back and let him clamber to his paws. Hollyleaf had seen the tunnels as a way to escape her Clan and everything that had gone wrong. Except she hadn't escaped—not in the way she wanted. "It's over," Lionblaze meowed, his voice shaking. "I don't understand." Jayfeather was trembling with shock and grief. "She killed Ashfur to keep the secret safe. But then she revealed it to every cat at the Gathering." "It wasn't the same." Lionblaze pressed up against him until Jayfeather felt his brother's dismay mingling with his own. "Hollyleaf couldn't bear the thought of being a medicine cat's kit. She couldn't bear the idea that she was half-Clan. The warrior code meant everything to her, and our birth smashed it to pieces." "We should have done something," Jayfeather insisted. "What are we going to tell the Clan?" Lionblaze let out an exhausted sigh. "We can't

进去找她了。" 松鸦羽躺着一动不动，大口喘着气，土石崩塌的喧闹渐渐平息下来。 重归安静后，狮焰向后退开，让他爬起身来。 冬青叶原本把隧道当成逃离族群、躲开所有糟心事的出路。 可她最终没能逃走——不是她想要的那种逃走。 "一切都结束了，"狮焰开口，声音不停发抖。 "我不明白。" 松鸦羽因为震惊和悲伤浑身颤抖。 "她为了守住秘密杀了蜡毛。 可后来她却在集会上把秘密告诉了所有猫。" "事情早就不一样了。" 狮焰紧紧贴住他，松鸦羽感受到哥哥的沮丧和自己的融在了一起。 冬青叶没法接受自己是巫医的孩子。 也没法接受自己是半族群出身的事实。 武士守则对她来说就是一切，可我们的出生把它砸得粉碎。" "我们本该做点什么的，"松鸦羽坚持说。 "我们该怎么跟族群说？" 狮焰疲惫地叹了一口气。 我们不能