Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 Very, very quietly, Fireheart backed into the bracken. The RiverClan warrior had stopped smelling the air, but he was still looking around. Fireheart turned, still crouching, and began to creep away. He heard a small splash behind him. A cat had slipped into the river. Fireheart glanced over his shoulder, his heart pounding. Through the bracken he could see a silver head bobbing toward him. Silverstream! But where were the two other cats? He circled cautiously, tasting the air with an open mouth. No scent of them nearby. They must have moved on. He looked back at Silverstream, swimming determinedly across the river. For a moment Fireheart wondered if this was a trap, wondered if he should run, but his concern about Graystripe made him stay. The silver tabby climbed onto the bank and hissed quietly, "Fireheart, I know you're there. I can smell you! It's okay, Stonefur and Shadepaw have gone." Fireheart didn't move. "Fireheart, I wouldn't let anything happen to Graystripe's closest friend!" She sounded

第十五章火心非常、非常安静地退回到蕨类植物中。 河族战士已不再嗅空气，但他仍在四处张望。 火心转过身来，仍然蹲着，开始悄悄溜走。 他听到身后传来一声小小的水花声。 一只猫溜进了河里。 火心回头瞥了一眼，心怦怦直跳。 透过蕨类植物，他看见一个银色的脑袋朝他晃来晃去。 Silverstream !但是另外两只猫在哪里呢？ 他小心翼翼地绕着圈子，张着嘴嗅着空气。 附近没有他们的踪迹。他们一定是搬走了。 他回头看了看银溪，坚定地游过了河。 一时间，火心不知道这是不是一个陷阱，不知道自己是否应该逃跑，但他对灰条纹的担心让他留下了。 银色虎斑猫爬上河岸，悄声说：“火心，我知道你在那儿。 我能闻到你的味道！没事了，石弗和影爪已经走了。” 火心没有动。“火心，我不会让格雷斯特最亲密的朋友出事的！”她的声音听起来

impatient. "Believe me, for StarClan's sake!" Fireheart crept slowly from his hiding place. Silverstream stared at him, her tail twitching. "What are you doing here?" "I was looking for you," he whispered, painfully aware he was in enemy territory. Silverstream flicked her ears in alarm. "Is Graystripe okay? Has his cough gotten worse?" Fireheart was irritated by her concern. He didn't want to know how much this she-cat cared for his best friend. "He's fine!" he growled, his caution swept away by anger. "But he won't be if he carries on meeting you!" Silverstream bristled. "I won't let anything bad happen to Graystripe!" "Oh, really?" Fireheart snorted. "And what could you do to protect him?" "I am a Clan leader's daughter," meowed Silverstream. "Does that give you the power to control your father's warriors? You're hardly more than an apprentice!" "Like you!" she hissed indignantly. "Yes, that's true," Fireheart admitted. "And

不耐烦。“相信我，看在StarClan的份上！”火心慢慢地从他的藏身之处爬出来。 银溪盯着他，尾巴抽搐着。 “你在这儿干什么？”“我在找你。”他低声说，痛苦地意识到自己进入了敌人的地盘。 Silverstream惊慌地摇了摇耳朵。 “Graystripe还好吗？”他的咳嗽加重了吗？”火心被她的关心激怒了。 他不想知道这只母猫有多爱他最好的朋友。 “他没事！”他咆哮道，他的谨慎被愤怒冲淡了。 “但如果他继续跟你见面，他就不是了！”Silverstream直立。 “我不会让任何坏事发生在格雷stripe身上！”“哦,真的吗?”Fireheart哼了一声。 “你能做些什么来保护他呢？”“我是部落首领的女儿，”银溪叫道。 “这样你就有能力控制你父亲的战士了吗？” 你只不过是个学徒！”“像你一样！”她愤怒地嘶嘶地说。 “对，没错。”火心承认。 ”,

that's why I'm not sure I could protect Graystripe from the anger of his own Clan—or yours—if they find out you're seeing each other." Silverstream tried to glare at him, but her eyes were clouded with emotion. "I can't stop seeing him," she meowed. Her voice softened to a whisper. "I love him." "But the tension between our Clans is bad enough already!" Fireheart was too angry to feel any sympathy. "We know RiverClan is hunting in our territory…." The defiant gleam returned to Silverstream's eyes. "If ThunderClan understood why, they wouldn't begrudge what we catch there!" "Why?" Fireheart flashed back at her. "My Clan is hungry. Our kits cry because their mothers have no milk. The elders are dying for lack of decent prey." Fireheart stared, taken aback. "But you've got the river!" he protested. Every cat knew that RiverClan enjoyed the best hunting of all—fish from the river, as well as woodland prey in the fields beyond. "It's not enough. Twolegs have taken over our

这就是为什么我不确定我能不能保护格雷斯特免受他自己氏族——或者你的氏族——的愤怒——如果他们发现你们在交往的话。” 银溪想怒视他，但她的眼睛里充满了感情。 “我没法不去看他，”她喵喵地说。 她的声音变小了，变成了耳语。 “我爱他。”“但是我们氏族之间的紧张关系已经够糟糕的了！”火心太生气了，一点同情也没有。 “我们知道大河氏族正在我们的领土上狩猎....” 银溪的眼睛里又闪现出挑衅的光芒。 “如果雷族知道原因，他们就不会嫉妒我们在那里捕获的东西了！”“为什么?”火心回敬了她一下。 “我的家人都饿了。我们的幼崽哭是因为它们的妈妈没有奶。 由于缺乏合适的猎物，长老们正在死去。” 火心吓了一跳。 “可是你得到了那条河！”他抗议道。 每只猫都知道，河族最喜欢从河里捕鱼，也最喜欢从远处的田野里捕林中的猎物。 “这还不够。两条腿已经接管了我们的

territory downstream. They built a camp there all greenleaf and stayed as long as the fish were plentiful. By the time they went, the fishing was scarce. And the damage they've done to the forest means that even woodland prey is harder to find." Fireheart felt a pang of pity in spite of his anger. He could guess how serious this must be for RiverClan. They were used to their rich diet of fish, and grew fat on it every greenleaf so that they could endure the harsh moons of leaf-bare. He stared at the she-cat with new eyes. She wasn't slim, he realized—she was skinny. As her wet coat clung to her, he could see her ribs. Suddenly he understood Crookedstar's hostility to Bluestar's plan at the Gathering. "That's why you didn't want WindClan to come home!" "Rabbits run on the moorlands all year round," Silverstream explained. "They were our only hope of making it through leaf-bare without losing kits." She shook her head slowly before lifting her gaze back to Fireheart. "Does Graystripe know all this?" he asked. Silverstream nodded. Fireheart looked at her, perplexed for a moment. But he couldn't let these

下游地区。他们在那里建了一个全是绿叶的营地，只要鱼充足就住在那里。 他们去的时候，已经没有什么捕鱼的机会了。 它们对森林造成的破坏意味着即使是林地猎物也很难找到。” 尽管火心很生气，但他还是感到一阵怜悯。 他能猜到这对河族来说有多严重。 他们已经习惯了丰富的鱼类食物，每片绿叶都让他们长得很胖，这样他们就能忍受光秃秃的月光。 他以全新的眼光盯着那只母猫。 她并不苗条，他意识到——她很瘦。 当她湿漉漉的外套贴在身上时，他可以看到她的肋骨。 突然间，他明白了克鲁克之星对蓝星在集会上的计划的敌意。 “这就是你不想让风氏族回家的原因！”“野兔一年四季都在沼地上奔跑，”Silverstream解释说。 “他们是我们在光秃秃的情况下不丢失装备的唯一希望。” 她慢慢地摇了摇头，然后抬起头看着火心。 “灰条纹知道这一切吗？”他问。 Silverstream点点头。火心看着她，一时不知所措。 但他不能让这些

feelings get in the way of the warrior code—and neither could his friend. "Whatever problems your Clan has, you still have to stop seeing Graystripe." "No," answered Silverstream, lifting her chin. Her eyes flashed. "How can our love do any harm?" Fireheart returned her stare. Another shiver ran down his back as the cold rain seeped through his thick pelt. Suddenly Silverstream hissed, making Fireheart jump. "You must leave, the patrol's coming." Fireheart heard a faint rustle on the other side of the river. It would be pointless—and dangerous —to stay any longer. The rustling noise was growing closer. Without saying good-bye, he bounded back into the wet bracken and headed home. He raced back toward the stash of fresh-kill he'd left beneath the oak tree. Halfway home, the scent of a fresh Twoleg trail stopped him in his tracks, reminding him of Princess. He wondered whether there was time to follow the trail back to Twolegplace. He wanted to know if she had kitted

感情会阻碍勇士守则的执行，他的朋友也不会。 “无论你的Clan有什么问题，你都必须停止看到Graystripe。” “不，”银溪抬起下巴回答。 她的眼睛闪闪发光。“我们的爱有什么害处呢？”火心回敬了她一眼。 冰冷的雨水渗进他厚厚的皮毛，他的背上又一阵颤抖。 突然，银溪发出嘶嘶声，把火心吓了一跳。 “你必须离开，巡逻队来了。” 火心听到河对岸有微弱的沙沙声。 再呆下去是毫无意义的，而且是危险的。 沙沙声越来越近了。 没有说再见，他跳回潮湿的蕨菜，朝家走去。 他跑回他留在橡树下的新鲜猎物的藏匿处。 回家的半路上，一股新鲜的特沃莱格小径的气味让他停了下来，让他想起了公主。 他不知道是否还有时间沿着小路回到双莱格place。 他想知道她是否逃跑了

yet. But Princess would probably be safely tucked up in her Twoleg nest by now, and the Clan needed fresh-kill. With an uneasy twinge, Fireheart realized that Graystripe wasn't the only one with divided loyalties. Rain began to drip from the end of his whiskers. He shook the drops away and bounded on toward his horde of fresh-kill. The camp was silent by the time he arrived, the cats sheltering in their dens. Fireheart crossed the muddy clearing and dropped his catch on the pile. Taking a piece for himself, he trotted toward the warriors' den. There was no way he was eating outside tonight. He pushed his head inside the den. Graystripe was dozing, to Fireheart's relief. He might actually get better if he wasn't charging through the forest, looking for Silverstream. "Yellowfang hasn't taken any fresh-kill yet." Whitestorm's meow sounded from the shadows. "She's been too busy. I think she would appreciate that mouse you're carrying." Fireheart nodded and backed out again. If Yellowfang was too busy to fetch food, it must

然而。但公主现在可能已经安全地窝在她的特沃列格巢里了，氏族需要新鲜的猎物。 带着不安的刺痛，火心意识到灰条纹并不是唯一一个忠诚分裂的人。 雨水开始从他的胡须末端滴落下来。 他把水滴抖掉，向他那群刚宰杀的猎物跳去。 他到达的时候，营地很安静，猫躲在它们的洞穴里。 火心穿过泥泞的空地，把他的猎物扔在了那堆东西上。 他自己拿了一块，小跑着向勇士的巢穴走去。 他今晚不可能在外面吃饭。 他把头伸进洞里。 灰条在打瞌睡，这让火心松了口气。 如果他没有穿过森林，寻找银溪，他可能会好起来。 “黄牙还没有吃到任何新鲜的猎物。” 白风暴的叫声从阴影中传来。 “她太忙了。我想她会喜欢你拿着的那只老鼠的。” 火心点点头，又退了出去。 如果黄牙忙得没时间去拿食物，那它就得去