Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24 Tallstar spoke up, a dim silhouette on top of the Great Rock. "This Gathering is over, by the will of StarClan." The crowd murmured in agreement. The air was thick with the scents of fear and hostility. "Come, ThunderClan." Fireheart could barely see Bluestar as she leaped down from the Great Rock and headed for the edge of the clearing. He pushed his way through the other cats and hurried after her. He saw the massive outline of Tigerclaw as the deputy fell in step beside his leader, and the pale gray shapes of the other ThunderClan cats as they gathered behind the two great warriors. No cat spoke as they trekked solemnly up the slope toward home. Fireheart glanced over his shoulder. The other Clans were withdrawing too. By the time he reached the top of the slope, Fourtrees was deserted. The Clan ran silently through the forest, following the familiar scent-lined trail. Fireheart spotted Graystripe at the back and he slowed his pace. Maybe Graystripe would be more prepared to talk about Silverstream, now that it was clear

第二十四章高星说话了，一个模糊的剪影出现在大岩石顶上。 “根据星际部落的意愿，这次聚会结束了。” 人群低声表示同意。 空气中弥漫着恐惧和敌意的气味。 “来,ThunderClan。”火心几乎看不见蓝星，她从大岩石上跳下来，朝空地边缘走去。 他从别的猫中间挤过去，急忙跟在她后面。 他看见虎爪的巨大轮廓，那是虎爪的副手紧跟在他的领袖身边，还有其他雷族猫的浅灰色身影，它们聚集在两位伟大的战士身后。 当他们严肃地走上斜坡回家时，没有一只猫说话。 火心回头瞥了一眼。 其他部族也在撤退。 当他到达坡顶时，四树村已经空无一人了。 氏族默默地跑过森林，沿着熟悉的芳香小径。 火心在后面发现了灰条纹，他放慢了脚步。 也许Graystripe会更愿意谈论Silverstream，现在一切都清楚了

how tense things were between the Clans. His scent had been detected in RiverClan territory! Graystripe was putting himself and the Clan in danger with his secret meetings. Fireheart searched for the right words but Graystripe hissed first, "I know what you're going to say. And I won't stop seeing her!" "You're a mouse-brained fool!" Fireheart spat back. "They'll soon work out it's you. Bluestar will guess, or some cat from RiverClan'll recognize your scent. Tigerclaw's probably guessed already!" Graystripe shot Fireheart an anxious glance. "Do you really think so?" "I don't know," Fireheart admitted, relieved to hear a note of fear in Graystripe's voice. Graystripe had been acting as if he had no idea what might happen if the Clan found out about his affair. "But once he starts thinking about it…" "Okay, okay!" spat Graystripe. He was silent for a moment. "What if I promise we'll meet only at Fourtrees? That way our scent will be hard to detect, and I won't have to go into RiverClan territory. Will you leave me alone then?" Fireheart felt his heart sink. Graystripe was not

氏族之间的关系有多紧张。 他的气味在河族领地被发现了！格雷斯特的秘密会议让他自己和氏族都处于危险之中。 火心想找个合适的词，但灰条纹先嘶嘶地说：“我知道你要说什么。 我不会停止和她约会的！”“你这个鼠目寸光的傻瓜！”火心反唇相讥。 “他们很快就会发现是你。 蓝星会猜，或者河族的猫会认出你的气味。 虎爪大概已经猜到了！”灰条焦急地瞥了火心一眼。 “你真的这么认为吗？”“我不知道。”火心承认道，听到灰条纹的声音里带着一丝恐惧，他松了口气。 格雷stripe一直表现得好像他不知道如果Clan发现了他的婚外情会发生什么。 “好吧，好吧！” 他沉默了一会儿。 “如果我保证我们只在四树树见面呢？” 这样我们的气味就很难被察觉，我也不用进入河族的领地了。 那你能让我一个人静一静吗？”火心感到心一沉。 Graystripe则不然

going to give up Silverstream that easily. Then he nodded. This had to be better than creeping into hostile Clan territory to see her. "Satisfied?" Graystripe's eyes flashed in the gloom, but his voice sounded shaky. Fireheart felt a pang of regret for their lost friendship, and a rush of sympathy for the gray warrior. He stretched his head forward to nuzzle Graystripe's flank, but Graystripe ran on ahead, leaving Fireheart alone at the back of the group. Even though the cats were tired from the journey, Bluestar called a meeting as soon as they were home. Most of the Clan was still awake anyway. The Gathering had been shorter than usual, and the sudden cloud cover had alarmed even the cats left in the camp. While Bluestar and Tigerclaw settled themselves on the Highrock, Fireheart hurried over to the nursery. He wanted to know how Cloudkit was. He poked his head through the entrance. It was pitch black and warm inside. "Hello, Fireheart," Brindleface whispered, a faint shadow shifting in the gloom. "Cloudkit's much better. Yellowfang gave him feverfew. It

就这么轻易放弃银溪 然后他点点头。这总比潜入敌对氏族领地去见她好。 “满意吗?”灰条纹的眼睛在黑暗中闪烁，但他的声音听起来有些颤抖。 火心对他们失去的友谊感到一阵痛惜，同时也对灰衣战士产生了一阵同情。 他把头伸过去，想用鼻子蹭格雷斯特的侧翼，但格雷斯特跑在前面，把火心一个人留在了队伍的后面。 尽管猫们在旅途中很累，蓝星还是在它们一到家就召集了一次会议。 反正氏族的大多数人还醒着。 这次聚会的时间比往常短，突如其来的乌云连留在营地里的猫都吓了一跳。 蓝星和虎爪在高地岩上安顿下来时，火心急忙跑到保育室去了。 他想知道Cloudkit是怎么回事。 他从入口探出头来。 里面漆黑而温暖。 “你好，火心。”斑脸低声说，一个微弱的影子在黑暗中移动。 “Cloudkit要好得多。黄方给了他小白菊。 它

was just a chill." The queen sounded relieved. "What happened at the Gathering?" "StarClan sent clouds to cover the moon. Bluestar's called a meeting. Can you come?" Fireheart listened to Brindleface sniffing her kits. "Yes, I think I can," she answered finally. "My kits will sleep for a while." Fireheart withdrew his head, and together they joined the cats gathered in the clearing. Fireheart felt fur brush against him, and Cinderpaw glanced up at him with wide, worried eyes. Bluestar had already begun. "The greatest threat seems to be from RiverClan and ShadowClan. We must be prepared for the possibility that these two Clans have united against us." Shocked meows rippled through the Clan. "Do you really think they've joined together?" Yellowfang rasped. "RiverClan has the best sources of prey, but I can't imagine they'd want to share with ShadowClan." Fireheart remembered Silverstream's words about RiverClan's hunger after the Twoleg invasion, but he held his tongue, fearful that Bluestar would want to know where

只是一阵寒意。”女王听起来松了口气。 “聚会上发生了什么事？”“星族派云遮住月亮。 蓝星召集了一个会议。 你能来吗？”火心听着斑脸嗅她的装备。 “是的，我想我能，”她最后回答。 “我的孩子们会睡一会儿。” 火心缩回了头，他们一起加入了聚集在空地上的猫群。 火心觉得自己的皮毛拂过他，灰姑娘的爪子睁大忧虑的眼睛抬头望着他。 蓝星已经开始了。 “最大的威胁似乎来自河流氏族和暗影氏族。 我们必须做好准备，以防这两个氏族联合起来对付我们。” 震惊的喵喵声在氏族中荡起涟漪。 “你真的认为他们已经联合起来了吗？”Yellowfang发出刺耳的声音。 “河流氏族拥有最好的猎物资源，但我无法想象他们会愿意与暗影氏族分享。” 火心记起银溪说过，在特沃列格入侵后，河族的饥肠辘辘的，但他没有说出口，因为他害怕蓝星会想知道他们在哪里

he'd heard such a story. "They didn't deny it," Tigerclaw pointed out. Bluestar nodded. "Whatever the truth, we must be on full alert. From tonight, each patrol will have four cats, at least three of them warriors. The patrols will be more frequent, two each night, and one during the day, as well as the dawn and dusk patrols. We must put a stop to RiverClan's and ShadowClan's raids on our territory, and since they have chosen to ignore our words, we must be prepared to fight." The Clan yowled their agreement. Fireheart joined in even though he was worried about what this open hostility might mean for Graystripe. He looked around at the other cats. He could see all their eyes shining—except Graystripe's. The gray warrior sat with his head bowed in the shadows at the edge of the clearing. When the noise died away, Bluestar spoke again. "The first patrol will leave before dawn." She jumped down from the Highrock. Tigerclaw followed, and the rest of the Clan broke up into small groups. Fireheart could hear them murmuring nervously as he padded to the

他听过这样一个故事。“他们没有否认。”虎爪指出。 蓝星点点头。“无论真相如何，我们都必须保持高度警惕。 从今晚开始，每个巡逻队将有四只猫，其中至少三只是战士。 巡逻将更加频繁，每晚两次，白天一次，以及黎明和黄昏巡逻。 我们必须阻止河流氏族和暗影氏族对我们领土的掠夺，既然他们选择无视我们的命令，我们必须做好战斗的准备。” 氏族嚎叫着表示同意。 火心也加入了进来，尽管他担心这种公开的敌意对灰条纹公司意味着什么。 他看了看其他的猫。 他能看到他们所有人的眼睛都在发光——除了灰条纹的。 灰衣武士低着头坐在空地边缘的阴影里。 噪音消失后，蓝星又说话了。 “第一批巡逻队将在黎明前出发。” 她从海罗克山上跳了下来。 虎爪跟在后面，剩下的部落成员分成了几个小组。 火心听见他们紧张地窃窃私语

warriors' den. Fireheart settled into his nest, kneading the moss with his paws to make it comfortable. An owl hooted at the top of the ravine. He knew he would not sleep yet. His mind was racing with the accusations that had flown around the Gathering. He understood RiverClan's anger. They had picked up the scent of ThunderClan cats in their territory, and they were hungry now that their prey had been depleted by the Twoleg invasion. But what about ShadowClan? It was smaller since ThunderClan had helped them to chase out their tyrannical former leader and his band of followers. Brokenstar had even admitted to killing Raggedstar, his own father, to become Clan leader. But the Clan had been left in peace to recover from Brokenstar's bloody rule. And Fireheart couldn't help thinking that, with fewer mouths to feed, ShadowClan had no need to raid ThunderClan's hunting grounds, or anyone else's. As he puzzled over these thoughts, Whitestorm and Darkstripe pushed their way into the den. Before Whitestorm went to his nest, he stopped beside Fireheart. "You're to join me with

勇士的巢穴。火心安顿在自己的窝里，用爪子揉着苔藓，让窝舒服些。 一只猫头鹰在峡谷顶上叫着。 他知道他还睡不着。 他的脑子里满是集会上的各种指责。 他理解河族的愤怒。 他们在自己的地盘上嗅到了雷电氏族猫的气味，现在他们的猎物已经被特沃列格人的入侵耗尽了，他们很饿。 但是《ShadowClan》呢？ 自从雷霆氏族帮助他们赶走了残暴的前领袖和他的追随者之后，他们的规模就变小了。 布罗肯斯达甚至承认，为了成为部落首领，他杀死了自己的父亲拉格德斯达。 但是氏族已经从布罗肯斯塔的血腥统治中恢复了平静。 火心不由地想，既然要养活的人少了，影子氏族就没有必要袭击雷霆氏族的狩猎场，或者其他任何人的狩猎场。 正当他对这些想法感到困惑时，“白风暴”和“黑条纹”挤进了洞穴。 在白风暴回巢之前，他停在火心身边。 “你要和我一起……