Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28 "I'll find them," Fireheart promised. He automatically looked around for Graystripe. The wind was rising and the snow was growing thicker —he didn't want to search alone. Fireheart rushed to the warriors' den and pushed his way inside, but Graystripe wasn't there. Sandstorm was just waking up. "What's wrong?" she meowed, seeing Fireheart peering around the den. "Brindleface's kits are missing." "Cloudkit too?" Sandstorm scrambled to her paws, instantly awake. "Yes! I was looking for Graystripe so we could look for them together, but he isn't here," Fireheart meowed, his words tumbling out in a rush. He felt a stab of rage that Graystripe was missing yet again—right after accusing Fireheart of not trusting him! "I'll come with you," Sandstorm offered. Fireheart blinked. "Thanks," he meowed gratefully. "Come on. We should tell Bluestar before we leave." "Dustpelt can tell her. Is it still snowing?"

第二十八章“我会找到他们的。” 他不由自主地四处寻找“灰条”。 风越来越大，雪越来越厚——他不想一个人去找。 火心冲进战士的洞穴，挤了进去，但灰条纹不在那里。 沙暴刚刚醒来。 “怎么了？”她喵喵地叫道，看见火心在洞里四处张望。 “斑脸的装备不见了。” “Cloudkit吗?”沙暴爬到她的爪子上，立刻醒了过来。 “是啊!我在找灰条，这样我们就可以一起找他们了，但他不在这里。”火心叫道，他的话急促地说了出来。 他感到一阵怒火，灰条纹又不见了——就在他指责火心不信任他之后！“我和你一起去。”沙暴提议道。 Fireheart眨了眨眼睛。“谢谢。”他感激地喵喵叫道。 “来吧。我们应该在出发前告诉蓝星。” “灰尘可以告诉她。还在下雪吗？”

"Yes, and it's getting heavier. We'd better hurry." Fireheart looked at Dustpelt's sleeping form. "You wake him. I'll tell Brindleface we're going and meet you by the entrance." He bounded away, back to the nursery. Brindleface was still sniffing around in search of scents. "Any sign?" Fireheart asked. "No, nothing." Brindleface's voice was trembling. "Frostfur's gone to tell Bluestar!" "Well, don't worry. I'm going out to look for them," he reassured her. "Sandstorm's coming with me. We'll find them." Brindleface nodded and carried on searching. Fireheart and Sandstorm arrived at the gorse tunnel together and hurried out into the woods. Outside the camp, the wind felt even fiercer. Fireheart narrowed his eyes and hunched his shoulders against the blizzard. "It's going to be hard picking up a scent through the fresh snow," he warned Sandstorm. "Let's start by checking to see if they've climbed up to the forest." "Okay," meowed Sandstorm. "You take that side." Fireheart pointed with his

“是的，而且越来越重了。 我们最好快点。”火心看着尘土飞扬的样子。 “你叫醒他。我去告诉斑脸，我们要去门口等你。” 他蹦蹦跳跳地跑回育儿室。 斑脸还在四处嗅着气味。 “任何迹象?”Fireheart问道。 “不,没什么。”布林德尔脸的声音在颤抖。 “弗罗斯特弗去告诉蓝星了！”“好吧，别担心。 我要出去找他们，”他安慰她说。 “沙暴和我一起来。 我们会找到他们的。”斑脸点点头，继续找。 火心和沙暴一起来到了金雀花隧道，然后匆匆跑进了树林。 营地外，风更猛了。 火心眯起眼睛，耸起肩膀，抵挡风雪。 他警告沙暴组织说：“在新下的雪中很难找到气味。” “我们先看看他们有没有爬到森林里去。” “好吧，”沙暴叫道。“你站在那边。” 火心指了指

nose. "And I'll take the other. Meet you back here. Don't be long." Sandstorm bounded away, and Fireheart leaped over a fallen tree, heading toward the trail the Clan followed most often. The sides of the ravine were even more thickly coated than they had been that morning, and slippery now where the snow had frozen into ice. Fireheart stopped and lifted his head, his mouth open, but he could find no scent of the kits. He looked in vain for pawsteps—would their trail already be covered by fresh snow? He trekked along the bottom of the slope but found no sign of any cats, let alone lost kits. The wind blew until Fireheart could hardly feel the tips of his ears. No kits could survive in this weather, and it wouldn't be long before the sun began to set. He had to find them before nightfall. Fireheart raced back to the camp entrance. Sandstorm was waiting for him, her fur striped with small ridges of snow. She shook them off as she saw him coming. "Any sign?" Fireheart meowed. "No, nothing."

鼻子。“我要另一只。 回来见。别等太久。” 沙暴跳开了，火心跳过一棵倒下的树，朝氏族最常走的小路走去。 山沟两边的积雪比早上还要厚，积雪结成冰的地方现在也很滑。 火心停了下来，抬起头，张着嘴，但他找不到套件的气味。 他徒劳无功地寻找脚印——他们的足迹已经被新雪覆盖了吗？ 他沿着斜坡底部长途跋涉，但没有发现任何猫的迹象，更不用说丢失的工具箱了。 风刮得火心几乎感觉不到耳尖了。 在这样的天气里，没有一只幼崽能存活下来，不久太阳就开始下山了。 他必须在天黑前找到他们。 火心跑回营地入口。 沙暴正在等着他，她的皮毛上有雪的小条纹。 她看见他走过来，就把它们甩掉了。 “任何迹象?”Fireheart呜呜呜。 “不,没什么。”

"They can't have gotten far," Fireheart pointed out. "Come on, let's try this way." He headed toward the training hollow. Sandstorm battled after him. The snow was getting deeper, and she sank up to her belly with every step. The training hollow was empty. "Do you think Bluestar realizes how bad the weather is out here?" asked Sandstorm, raising her voice against the wind. "She'll know," Fireheart called back to her. "We should go back and get help, join up with another search party," meowed Sandstorm. Fireheart looked at the shivering warrior. It was not just the kits who might freeze out here. Perhaps Sandstorm was right. "I agree," he meowed. "We can't do this by ourselves." As they turned toward camp, Fireheart thought he heard a tiny squeal through the wind. "Did you hear that?" he called. Sandstorm stopped and began sniffing the air furiously. Suddenly she lifted her head. "That way!" she meowed, pointing with her nose to a fallen tree.

“他们不会走远的。”火心指出。 “来吧，我们试试这个方法。” 他朝训练场走去。 沙暴在他身后肆虐。 雪越积越深，她每走一步都陷到肚子里。 训练场是空的。 “你认为蓝星意识到这里的天气有多糟糕吗？”沙暴问，对着风提高了嗓门。 “她会知道的。”火心回叫她。 “我们应该回去找人帮忙，加入另一个搜索队，”沙暴叫道。 火心看着颤抖的战士。 在这里冻死的不只是小企鹅。 也许沙暴是对的。 “我同意。”他喵喵叫道。“我们自己做不到。” 当他们转向营地时，火心觉得他听到风中传来一声微小的尖叫。 “你听到了吗？”他喊道。 沙暴停了下来，开始疯狂地嗅着空气。 她突然抬起头来。 “那边！”她叫道，用鼻子指着一棵倒下的树。

Fireheart leaped toward it with Sandstorm right behind him. The squealing grew louder until Fireheart could make out several little voices. He scrambled up onto the log and looked down the other side. Huddled in the snow were two small kits. Fireheart felt a rush of relief until he realized Cloudkit was not with them. "Where's Cloudkit?" he yowled. "Hunting," squeaked one of the kits. Her voice trembled with cold and fear, but there was a note of defiance in it. Fireheart lifted his head. "Cloudkit!" he called, peering through the snowflakes. "Fireheart, look!" Sandstorm was on top of the log. Fireheart spun around. A bedraggled white shape was struggling through the snow toward them. Cloudkit! Every step was a massive leap for the tiny kit—the snow was as high as he was. But he kept coming, and in his mouth he carried a small, snow-encrusted vole. A surge of relief and fury shot through Fireheart. He left Sandstorm with the others and bounded through the snow to scoop up the kit by the scruff of his neck. Cloudkit grunted in protest

火心跳了过去，沙暴就在他后面。 尖叫声越来越响，直到火心听出几个细小的声音。 他爬上圆木，往另一边看。 两个小工具箱蜷缩在雪地里。 火心松了一口气，直到他意识到Cloudkit没有和他们在一起。 “云kit在哪儿？” “打猎。”其中一只幼崽尖声说。 她的声音因寒冷和恐惧而颤抖，但里面有一种蔑视的语气。 火心抬起头。 “云包！”他喊道，透过雪花凝视着。 “Fireheart,看!”沙暴就在木头上面。 火心转过身来。一个浑身湿透的白色人影在雪地里挣扎着朝他们走来。 Cloudkit !对这只小猫咪来说，每一步都是巨大的飞跃——雪和他一样高。 但它不停地走过来，嘴里叼着一只小小的、浑身是雪的田鼠。 一阵如释重负和愤怒的情绪涌上了火心的心头。 他和其他人一起离开了沙暴，在雪地里蹦蹦跳跳，抓住他的颈背把工具包捡了起来。 Cloudkit哼了一声表示抗议

but refused to drop the vole that dangled from his mouth. Fireheart turned to see Sandstorm nudging the others toward him. They stumbled ahead of her, sinking up to their ears in the deep snow, but she kept pushing them on. Cloudkit squirmed in Fireheart's mouth. Fireheart dropped him back into the snow. Cloudkit looked up at him, proudly holding his catch. Fireheart couldn't help feeling impressed. In spite of the snow and wind, Cloudkit had caught his first prey! "Wait there," he ordered, and dashed back to help Sandstorm. He picked up a tiny she-kit who was mewling pitifully, and began nosing the other one forward. The bedraggled group struggled back to the camp. Brindleface was waiting outside the gorse tunnel. Bluestar stood beside her, her eyes narrowed against the driving snow. As soon as they spotted Fireheart's party, they rushed forward to help. Bluestar scooped up Cloudkit and Brindleface grabbed the other kit; then they turned and raced into the shelter of the camp with

但他不肯放下那只挂在嘴边的田鼠。 火心转过身，看见沙暴把其他人推到他身边。 他们在她前面跌跌撞撞，陷在深雪里没过耳朵，但她一直推着他们往前走。 云kit在火心嘴里蠕动。 火心把他扔回雪地里。 Cloudkit抬头看着他，骄傲地握着他的猎物。 火心忍不住被打动了。 尽管风雪交加，云kit还是抓住了它的第一个猎物！“在那里等着。”他命令道，然后冲回去帮助沙暴。 他抱起一只可怜地呜咽着的小母马，开始用鼻子嗅着另一只向前。 这群浑身湿透的人挣扎着回到营地。 斑脸在金雀花隧道外等着。 蓝星站在她身边，她眯着眼睛看着滚滚的雪。 他们一发现火心的队伍，就冲上去帮忙。 蓝星捞起了Cloudkit， Brindleface抓住了另一个kit；然后他们转身跑进营地的避风处