Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 Bluestar halted on the edge of the clearing with her Clan lined up beside her. Some of the cats from RiverClan and ShadowClan turned and acknowledged their arrival. "Where'd you disappear to?" Graystripe appeared at Fireheart's shoulder. Fireheart shook his head. "Doesn't matter." He was still troubled and confused by his conversation with Bluestar, and felt glad when Graystripe didn't press him, turning his head instead to peer around the clearing. "Hey, look," he meowed. "The ShadowClan cats are looking stronger than I thought they would. After all, Brokenstar left them half- starved." Fireheart followed his gaze to a sleek ShadowClan warrior. "You're right," he agreed, surprised. "Mind you, we did do most of their fighting for them!" scoffed Graystripe. Fireheart's amused purr was interrupted by Whitestorm. "The ShadowClan cats fought as hard as we did to chase out Brokenstar. We

第二章蓝星在空地的边缘停了下来，她的族人站在她身边。 河族和影族的一些猫转过身来，向他们致意。 “你去哪儿了？”灰条出现在火心的肩膀上。 火心摇了摇头。“没关系。” 他仍然为自己和蓝星的谈话感到困扰和困惑，他很高兴格雷斯特没有逼问他，而是转过头来打量那块空地。 “嘿，看，”他叫道。“影子家族的猫看起来比我想象的要强壮。 毕竟，布罗肯斯塔让他们饿得半死。” 火心跟随他的目光，注视着一个光彩照人的影族战士。 “你说得对。”他惊讶地同意道。 “提醒你一下，他们的战斗大部分是我们替他们打的！”格雷斯特里特嘲笑道。 火心愉快的咕噜声被白风暴打断了。 “影子家族的猫和我们一样拼命追赶布罗肯之星。 我们

should honor their determination to recover," he meowed sternly, before padding over to a group of warriors gathered beneath one of the great oaks. "Oops!" mewed Graystripe with a guilty glance at Fireheart. The young warriors stayed on the edge of the clearing. Fireheart could easily pick out the apprentices from the other Clans—their fur looked kit-soft, their faces round, and their paws plump and clumsy. Two warriors approached Graystripe and Fireheart. A small brown apprentice tagged after them. Fireheart recognized the gray tabby tom from ShadowClan, but not the smoky black tom who walked with him. "Hi!" meowed the gray tom. "Hello, Wetfoot," replied Fireheart. He glanced at the dark brown cat. Wetfoot meowed, "This is Blackclaw of RiverClan." Graystripe and Fireheart nodded their greeting. The apprentice stepped timidly forward. "And this is my apprentice, Oakpaw," added

我们应该尊重他们恢复的决心，”他严厉地叫着，然后向一群聚集在一棵大橡树下的战士走去。 “哎呀！”灰条纹叫了一声，内疚地看了火心一眼。 年轻的战士们站在空地的边缘。 火心很容易就能从其他部族中分辨出这些学徒——他们的皮毛像玩具一样柔软，脸圆圆的，爪子又肥又笨。 两个战士走近灰条和火心。 一个棕色的小学徒紧跟在他们后面。 火心认出了那只来自影族的灰斑猫，却认不出和他同行的那只烟熏黑猫。 “嗨！”灰汤姆叫道。 “你好，维特富特。”火心答道。 他瞥了一眼那只深褐色的猫。 湿脚叫道：“我是河族的黑爪。” 灰条和火心点头致意。 学徒怯生生地走上前去。 “这是我的徒弟，奥克paw。

Wetfoot. Oakpaw looked up at Fireheart with wide, anxious eyes. "H-hi, Fireheart," he mewed. Fireheart nodded his head in greeting. "I hear Bluestar made you warriors after the battle," meowed Wetfoot. "Congratulations! It must've been a cold vigil." "It was!" Graystripe agreed. "Who's that?" Fireheart broke in. A sleek she- cat with a mottled brown pelt had caught his attention. She was sharing words with Tigerclaw beside the Great Rock that stood in the center of the clearing. "That's Leopardfur, our deputy," growled the RiverClan warrior. Fireheart's fur stiffened as he thought about the previous RiverClan deputy, Oakheart, and how he had died in battle with ThunderClan. He was saved from having to say anything by Bluestar's bounding onto the top of the rock to start the meeting. Two other cats joined her, and one of them, an elderly black tom, sounded the call for all cats to gather beneath the rock. Fireheart recognized the black tom, and couldn't

Wetfoot。橡爪抬起头，睁大焦虑的眼睛望着火心。 “嗨，火心。”他叫道。 火心点点头表示欢迎。 “我听说蓝星在战后把你们培养成了战士，”韦特福特叫道。 “恭喜你!那一定是一个冷酷的守夜。” “这是!”Graystripe同意了。 “那是谁?”火心闯进来。 一只毛绒绒、棕色斑驳的母猫引起了他的注意。 她在空地中央的大岩石旁和虎爪说话。 “那是利奥帕福，我们的副手。”河族战士咆哮道。 火心一想到河族的前任副手奥克哈特，以及他在与雷霆族的战斗中牺牲的经历，他的毛都僵了。 蓝星跳上岩石顶端，开始了会议，他就不必说什么了。 另外两只猫也跟着她，其中一只是一只上了年纪的黑猫，它大声叫着所有的猫都到岩石下面集合。 火心认出了黑汤姆，但没认出来

help feeling surprised. Had old Nightpelt become ShadowClan's leader since Brokenstar had fled? When the cats had settled in front of the Great Rock, Bluestar spoke. "ThunderClan bring to this Gathering their new medicine cat, Yellowfang," she announced formally. She paused while all eyes turned to the old she-cat with the thick fur and flattened muzzle. Fireheart noticed her shuffle her haunches on the hard ground. Early in his apprenticeship he had spent almost a whole moon nursing the she-cat back to health after she had come to the ThunderClan camp. Now he could tell by the way her right ear twisted slightly that she was uncomfortable under the gaze of the other Clans. Yellowfang had been medicine cat to ShadowClan, and cats hardly ever left one Clan to join another. She looked around the crowd slowly until she met the gaze of Runningnose, ShadowClan's new medicine cat. There was a brief pause; then they exchanged a respectful nod. Yellowfang's ear straightened and Fireheart relaxed. Bluestar spoke again. "We also bring two newly named warriors—Fireheart and Graystripe."

帮助你感到惊讶。布罗肯之星逃走后，老暗夜魔就成了暗影氏族的首领了吗？ 猫们在大岩石前安顿下来后，蓝星说话了。 她正式宣布：“雷霆家族带来了他们的新药猫——黄牙。” 她停了一下，所有人的目光都转向了那只毛厚、嘴部扁平的老母猫。 火心注意到她在坚硬的地面上拖着后腿。 在他当学徒的早期，他几乎花了整整一个月的时间来照顾这只来到雷霆氏族营地的母猫。 现在他可以从她右耳微微扭曲的样子看出，她在其他氏族的注视下感到很不自在。 黄牙是影族的药猫，猫很少离开一个氏族加入另一个氏族。 她慢慢地环顾人群，直到遇到了暗影家族的新药猫流鼻。 短暂的沉默；然后他们恭敬地点点头。 黄牙竖起耳朵，火心也放松了。 蓝星又说话了。“我们还带来了两位新命名的战士——火心和灰条。”

Fireheart held his head high, but as he felt all eyes turn to look at him, a surge of self- consciousness made his tail flick nervously. Nightpelt stepped forward, brushing past Bluestar to stand on the highest part of the rock. "I, Nightpelt, have taken over the leadership of ShadowClan," he announced. "Our former leader, Brokenstar, broke the warrior code and we were forced to chase him out." "No mention of the fact we helped them to do it," Graystripe whispered to Fireheart. Nightpelt continued, "The spirits of our ancestors have spoken to Runningnose and chosen me as leader. I have not yet traveled to Mothermouth to receive StarClan's gift of nine lives, but I will make this journey tomorrow night while the moon is still full. After my vigil at the Moonstone, I shall be known as Nightstar." "Where is Brokenstar now?" called a voice from the crowd. It was Frostfur, the white ThunderClan queen. "I think we can assume that he has left the forest, with the other banished warriors. He knows it would be dangerous for him to try to

火心昂着头，但当他感到所有的目光都转向他时，一股自我意识的涌动使他的尾巴紧张地抖动起来。 夜魔走上前去，从蓝星身边擦过，站在岩石的最高处。 “我，夜魔，已经接管了暗影氏族的领导权。”他宣布。 “我们的前任领袖布罗肯之星违反了战士守则，我们被迫把他赶了出去。” “没提我们帮他们做了这件事。”灰条纹低声对火心说。 暗夜魔继续说道：“我们祖先的灵魂已经和流鼻虫谈过了，他们选择了我作为领袖。 我还没有去母嘴接受星族的九命礼物，但我将在明晚满月之时启程。 在月光石守夜之后，我将被称为夜之星。” “布罗肯斯塔现在在哪儿？”人群中传来一个声音。 那是霜佛，白色的雷族女王。 “我想我们可以假设他和其他被放逐的战士一起离开了森林。 他知道这样做会很危险

return," answered Nightpelt. "I hope so," Fireheart heard Frostfur murmur to her neighbor, a plump brown queen. RiverClan's leader, Crookedstar, stepped forward. "Let's hope Brokenstar has had the sense to leave the forest for good. His greed for territory threatened us all." Crookedstar waited for the yowls of agreement to die down before he went on. "While Brokenstar was ShadowClan's leader, I allowed him to hunt in our river. But now ShadowClan has a new leader, and this agreement can no longer stand. The prey in our river belongs to RiverClan alone." Mews of triumph rose from the other RiverClan cats, but Fireheart saw with a feeling of alarm that Nightpelt was bristling. Nightpelt raised his voice. "ShadowClan has the same needs as it did under Brokenstar. We have many mouths to feed, Crookedstar. You made an agreement with the whole of ShadowClan!" Crookedstar leaped to his paws and turned on Nightpelt. He flattened his ears and hissed, and the cats below fell silent.

回来。”夜魔回答。 “但愿如此。”火心听见霜霜佛对她的邻居，一个胖胖的棕褐色王后低语道。 大河氏族的首领克鲁克之星走上前来。 “让我们希望布罗肯斯塔尔能明智地永远离开森林。 他对领土的贪婪威胁到了我们所有人。” 歪歪斜斜的星等着同意的哭声平息下来，才继续说下去。 “当布罗肯斯塔还是暗影氏族的首领时，我允许他在我们的河里打猎。 但现在暗影氏族有了新的领袖，这个协议将不再有效。 我们河里的猎物只属于河族。” 河族的其他猫科动物纷纷欢呼雀跃，但火心却惊恐地看到夜魔怒不可遏。 夜魔提高了嗓门。 “《ShadowClan》拥有与《Brokenstar》相同的需求。 我们有很多人要养活，古鲁克星。 你和整个影族达成了协议！”弯星一跃而起，向夜魔扑去。 他竖起耳朵，发出嘶嘶声，下面的猫都安静了下来。