Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 As the patrol crossed the next field, snow began to fall in soft feathery flakes that melted as soon as they touched the ground. Lionblaze sneezed as one landed upon his nose. At the opposite side of the field they came to a wide stretch of whitish stone, with huge red nests at one side. The snow was heavier by now, and a wind had risen, whipping the flakes across the open expanse as they ventured onto the hard surface. Lionblaze padded along beside Hollyleaf, trying to protect her from the worst of the wind. Suddenly a loud snorting sound came from one of the nests. Terror gripped Lionblaze's limbs and he leaped forward, racing across the stone with the snow brushing his belly fur. Hollyleaf hurtled beside him, with Hazeltail on his other side. The sound came again, followed by a yowl from Brackenfur. "It's okay! It's only horses!" Only horses! Lionblaze's flying paws propelled him onward as he imagined the gigantic creatures with their heavy feet that could break a cat's spine

第五章 巡逻队穿过下一片原野时，天上飘起轻盈柔软的雪花，雪花一碰到地面就融化了。 一片雪花落在狮焰的鼻子上，他打了个喷嚏。 走到原野的另一边，他们看见一大片浅白色硬地，一旁有几个巨大的红色窝巢。 这会儿雪下得更大了，还刮起了风，他们踏上硬地时，狂风卷着雪片扫过开阔的空地。 狮焰挨着冬青叶往前走，尽力帮她挡住刺骨的狂风。 突然，其中一个窝巢里传来响亮的呼哧声。 恐惧攫住了狮焰的四肢，他猛地向前一蹿，飞快冲过石地，雪花蹭过他的腹毛。 冬青叶在他身旁狂奔，榛尾跑在他另一侧。 响声再次传来，接着是蕨毛的一声号叫。 "没事的！ "只不过是马而已！" 只不过是马！ 狮焰拼尽全力往前飞奔，他脑海里浮现出这些庞然大物，它们沉重的蹄子一下就能压断猫的脊梁

with one blow. A Twoleg gate loomed up out of the swirling snow; he wriggled underneath it and bunched his muscles to leap forward again. Hollyleaf and Hazeltail were just behind him. "No!" Brambleclaw screeched. "Stop! Thunderpath!" Lionblaze slammed to a halt as yellow beams sliced through the flurries of snow. A monster with glaring eyes swept past, buffeting Lionblaze's fur and soaking his paws with a wave of dirty snowmelt. He and his Clanmates shrank back; Lionblaze's heart was pounding with fear as he waited for Birchfall, Brackenfur, and Brambleclaw to join them. "You call yourselves warriors?" Brambleclaw's voice was scathing. "That was pure panic. The horses were inside their nests. There was no danger until you decided to hurl yourselves into the path of a monster." "Sorry," Lionblaze muttered. Searing shame swept over him, hot as a forest fire. Brambleclaw's harsh words stung all the more painfully because he knew the deputy was right. They had acted like apprentices on their first venture out of the camp.

就压断猫的脊梁。 一扇两脚兽的大门在飞旋的风雪中隐约显现； 他钻到门下，绷紧肌肉准备再次向前冲。 冬青叶和榛尾就跟在他身后。 "不要！" 黑莓掌厉声大喊。 "停下！前面是雷路！" 狮焰猛地刹住脚，黄色的光束劈开了纷飞的雪片。 一辆亮着刺眼大灯的怪兽呼啸而过，气浪掀动狮焰的毛发，脏污的融雪打湿了他的爪子。 他和族猫们赶紧往后缩； 狮焰的心害怕得怦怦狂跳，等着桦落、蕨毛和黑莓掌来和他们汇合。 "你们也配叫武士？" 黑莓掌的语气满是斥责。 "这完全是无端恐慌。 那些马都好好待在自己的窝巢里。 本来根本没有危险，是你们非要把自己往怪兽的路上撞。" "对不起，"狮焰喃喃道。 灼人的羞愧席卷了他，像森林野火一样滚烫。 黑莓掌刺耳的话语格外伤人，因为他知道这位副族长说得没错。 他们刚才的表现，就跟第一次出营地的学徒没两样。

Hazeltail's head was hanging in shame, and Hollyleaf had turned away, lifting each paw in turn to shake the dirty water off her fur. Lionblaze knew how much it meant to her to uphold the warrior code; she must be furious with herself for being spooked like that. And what about you? he demanded silently. The bravest warrior in ThunderClan, scared of a horse that isn't even loose? Brambleclaw let out a long sigh and relaxed. "All right. Let's see about getting across here." Lionblaze heard the roar of another monster as the Clan deputy padded forward cautiously to the edge of the Thunderpath. The gleaming creature leaped past in a blaze of light; from the other direction, an even bigger monster came barreling along with a throaty growl, its round black paws as big as boulders. How are we ever going to cross? We'll be squashed flat! He could see that Hazeltail and Hollyleaf were still scared, their fur on end and their eyes wide with alarm. He knew he must look just the same. He braced himself to force his paws to carry him

榛尾羞愧地耷拉着脑袋，冬青叶转过脸，挨个抬起爪子抖掉毛上的脏水。 狮焰知道，坚守武士守则对冬青叶来说有多重要； 她肯定因为自己刚才受惊乱跑，在心里生自己的气。 那你呢？ 他在心里质问自己。 雷族最勇敢的武士，居然会怕一匹还没出圈的马？ 黑莓长长长地叹了一口气，放松了紧绷的身子。 "好吧。 我们想想怎么从这儿过去。" 这位副族长小心翼翼走到雷路边时，狮焰听到另一头怪兽的轰鸣声。 那闪着光的怪兽带着亮光飞驰而过； 从另一个方向，一头更大的怪兽轰鸣着冲过来，它黑色的圆爪子和巨石一样大。 我们到底要怎么过去啊？ 我们会被压成肉饼的！ 他能看出榛尾和冬青叶还是满心恐惧，毛发炸起，眼睛睁得大大的满是惊惶。 他知道自己肯定也是这副模样。 他绷紧身体，逼着爪子带自己往前

across the hard, black surface of the Thunderpath. "Come up here beside me," Brambleclaw directed them calmly. "We'll cross one at a time. Brackenfur, you can go first, to show them how it's done." Brackenfur twitched his ears in acknowledgment. "It's not so bad," he told the younger cats kindly. "The Thunderpath in the old forest was much bigger than this." Birchfall's fur bristled. "Then I'm glad we don't live there anymore!" Brackenfur padded up beside Brambleclaw and waited for another monster to sweep past. Its roar died away in the distance. "Okay, go," mewed Brambleclaw. Brackenfur leaped forward, his golden brown pelt almost vanishing in the swirling snow. When he reached the other side, everything was still quiet. "Hollyleaf, go!" Taking a gulp of air, Hollyleaf hurled herself across the Thunderpath. Lionblaze dug his claws into the ground, trying to stop himself from shaking, until he saw her reach Brackenfur's side

走过雷路又硬又黑的路面。 "到我身边来，"黑莓掌平静地吩咐他们。 "我们一个一个过去。 蕨毛，你先过，给他们做个榜样。" 蕨毛动了动耳朵，表示收到指令。 "没那么可怕的，"他温和地对年轻猫咪们说。 "旧森林的雷路比这个大多了。" 桦落吓得毛发都炸了起来。 "那我可真高兴我们不再住在那儿了！" 蕨毛走到黑莓掌身边，等着下一头怪兽驶过。 怪兽的轰鸣渐渐消失在远方。 "好了，走，"黑莓掌轻声说。 蕨毛向前一跃，他金棕色的皮毛几乎要在飞旋的风雪中消失不见。 他走到对面之后，四周一片安静。 "冬青叶，该你了！" 冬青叶吸了一大口气，猛地冲过雷路。 狮焰把爪子深深抠进地里，拼命忍住不发抖，直到看见她跑到了蕨毛身边

safely. The growling of another monster was approaching through the snow. Lionblaze flinched back as it came into sight: a huge creature in glaring colors. His heart raced even faster when he saw several Twolegs in its belly as it flashed past. Did it eat them? Will it eat us? "Lionblaze, now you go." Summoning all his courage, Lionblaze stepped up beside Brambleclaw and launched himself forward. For a few heartbeats his world was full of the choking stink of the monster that had just passed by, and the black stuff scraped his pads as he raced across. Then he was standing on a narrow strip of grass between the Thunderpath and a prickly hedge, and Hollyleaf was pressing her pelt against his. "We did it," she murmured. "You know, Birchfall is right," Lionblaze whispered back, as his heartbeat gradually calmed. "If the old Thunderpath was worse than this, I wouldn't want to live near it, either!" A moment later Hazeltail joined them, and then Birchfall. A stream of monsters followed,

安然无恙。 另一头怪物的吼声正穿过雪幕不断逼近。 怪物进入视野时，狮焰吓得往后一缩：那是个颜色扎眼的大块头。 它飞驰而过时，狮焰看见它肚子里坐着好几只两脚兽，心跳跳得更快了。 它把他们吃了吗？ 它会吃我们吗？ “狮焰，现在该你过去了。” 狮焰鼓足全部勇气，走到黑莓掌身旁，纵身冲了出去。 冲过去的短短瞬间，他满鼻子都是刚开走的怪物那呛人的臭味，爪子跑过黑色路面时被刮得生疼。 接着他站定在了雷鬼路和尖刺树篱之间的窄草地上，冬青叶紧紧贴住了他的身体。 “我们成功了。”她轻声说。 “你知道的，桦落说得对，”狮焰的心跳渐渐平复，低声回应道。 “要是旧雷鬼路比这儿还糟糕，我也不想住在它旁边！” 没过一会儿，榛尾也过来了，接着桦落也到了。 一串接一串的怪物不断开过，

leaving Brambleclaw marooned on the other side. Finally the last of the monsters disappeared, though Lionblaze could still hear their roaring in the air. Brambleclaw bounded out onto the Thunderpath, racing for the other side. Another monster appeared in the distance, and Birchfall screeched, "Look out!" The Clan deputy didn't break stride. Long before the monster swept past, he was safely across, among his Clanmates. "See, nothing to it." He flicked an ear dismissively. "Now let's keep going." The wet leaves and debris under the branches of the hedge plastered themselves to Lionblaze's belly fur as he flattened himself to crawl into the next field. A strong scent flooded over him as he struggled to his paws on the other side. He felt as though he ought to remember it, but the memory slipped away from him like an elusive piece of prey. "What are those?" Hazeltail asked nervously, angling her ears toward the center of the field. Lionblaze peered through the snowflakes.

把黑莓掌困在了对岸。 终于，最后一只怪物也开走了，可狮焰还能听到空气中残留着它们的轰鸣。 黑莓掌纵身跳上雷鬼路，朝着对岸飞奔而来。 另一头怪物出现在远处，桦落尖叫起来：“小心！” 这位副族长丝毫没有放慢脚步。 怪物还没冲到跟前，他就已经安然穿过，站到了族猫们中间。 “看见了吧，一点都不难。” 他满不在乎地甩了甩耳朵。 “我们继续出发吧。” 狮焰贴紧身子爬进下一块田地时，树篱下的湿树叶和碎渣全都粘在了他的腹毛上。 他爬到对岸站起身，一股浓烈的气味扑面而来。 他觉得自己本该记得这味道，可这段记忆就像难抓的猎物，从他脑海里溜走了。 “那些是什么东西？” 榛尾紧张地问道，耳朵朝田地中央转了过去。 狮焰透过雪花望了过去。