Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 Back in the camp, Fireheart spotted Bluestar leaving the nursery. Quickly he dropped his catch on the pile of fresh-kill and padded over to her. "Yes, Fireheart, what is it?" the leader asked. Her voice was calm, but with a sinking feeling, Fireheart knew that the lack of warmth meant she had not forgiven him for asking about the missing ThunderClan kits. He lowered his head respectfully. "Bluestar, I was hunting near Twolegplace, and—" "Why there?" Bluestar interrupted. "Sometimes I think you spend too much time near Twolegplace, Fireheart." "I—I just thought there might be prey there," Fireheart stammered. "Anyway, while I was there, I smelled some strange cats." At once Bluestar was alert; her ears flicked up and she fixed her eyes intently on Fireheart. "How many cats? What Clan were they from?" "I'm not sure how many," Fireheart admitted. "Five or six at least. But they didn't have the scent of any Clan." He wrinkled his nose as he remembered. "They smelled of crowfood, which

第十章回到营地，火心发现蓝星正在离开育儿室。 他迅速地把捕到的东西扔在那堆刚宰杀的猎物上，然后蹑手蹑脚地向她走来。 “是的，火心，什么事？”首领问。 她的声音很平静，但心里有一种不祥的感觉，火心知道，缺乏温暖意味着她还没有原谅他问起丢失的雷霆氏族套件。 他恭敬地低下头。 “蓝星，我在双街附近打猎，然后——”“为什么在那儿？”蓝星中断。 “有时候我觉得你在双街呆得太久了，火心。” “我只是觉得那里可能有猎物，”火心结结巴巴地说。 “不管怎样，当我在那里的时候，我闻到了一些奇怪的猫的味道。” 蓝星立刻警觉起来；她竖起耳朵，目不转睛地盯着火心。 “多少只猫？”他们是从哪个部族来的？”“我不确定有多少。”火心承认。 “至少有五六个。但他们没有任何宗族的气味。” 他回忆起来，皱起了鼻子。 “它们闻起来有乌鸦食的味道

made me sure they weren't kittypets." Bluestar looked thoughtful, and to Fireheart's relief her hostility toward him seemed to ebb away. "How recent was the scent?" she asked. "Quite recent. But I didn't see any cats there." Except Tigerclaw, he added silently. But Fireheart decided not to tell Bluestar that part of the story. The leader was in no mood to listen to any more accusations against her deputy, and he had no evidence anyway that Tigerclaw had had anything to do with the unknown cats. "Rogues from the Twolegplace, perhaps?" Bluestar guessed. "Thank you, Fireheart. I'll tell the patrols to keep a lookout when they go that way. I don't suppose they're any threat to ThunderClan, but we can't be too careful." Fireheart padded toward the camp with a vole clamped firmly in his jaws. The sun shone from a brilliantly blue sky, and already, two days after his meeting with Princess, most of the snow was gone. Buds were swelling and a mist of tiny green leaves was beginning to cover the trees. More important, prey was reappearing in the forest.

让我确信它们不是小猫。” 蓝星看上去若有所思，令火心宽慰的是，她对他的敌意似乎消退了。 “这气味是什么时候的？”她问。 “相当近。但是我没有看到任何猫。” “除了虎爪。”他默默地加了一句。 但火心决定不告诉蓝星这部分故事。 头领没有心情再听对她副手的任何指控，而且他也没有证据表明虎爪和那些不知名的猫有什么关系。 “也许是从巴黎来的流氓？”蓝星猜。 “谢谢你，火心。我会让巡逻队在他们走那条路的时候小心点。 我想他们不会对雷霆军团构成威胁，但我们必须小心谨慎。” 火心嘴里紧紧夹着一只田鼠，蹑手蹑脚地朝营地走去。 太阳从湛蓝的天空中照耀出来，在他和公主见面两天后，大部分的雪已经消失了。 嫩芽开始发芽，一层薄薄的绿叶开始覆盖树木。 更重要的是，猎物在森林中重新出现。

Already it was easier to replenish the pile of fresh- kill, and for the first time in moons the Clan was full-fed. Fireheart arrived in the clearing to find the queens raking old bedding out of the nursery. When he had dropped his prey on the pile of fresh-kill, he went across to give them a hand, pleased to see that Cloudkit was helping too. "I'm going to show the other kits the good moss place!" the kit mewed proudly as he staggered past with a load of bedding. "Good idea," Fireheart agreed. He'd noticed that even after Tigerclaw relieved him of his duties with the elders, Cloudkit had gone on helping. Maybe at last the kit was feeling some spark of loyalty toward his adopted Clan. "Watch out for badgers, though!" Just then he saw Goldenflower emerge from the nursery, pushing a ball of soiled moss in front of her. Her belly was round with the weight of the kits she was carrying. "Hello, Fireheart," she meowed. "Isn't it great to see the sun again?" Fireheart gave the queen's shoulder a friendly

补充新鲜的猎物已经很容易了，几个月来，氏族第一次吃饱了。 火心来到空地上，发现蜂王们正在从育儿室里耙出旧被褥。 当他把猎物扔在一堆新杀的猎物上时，他走过去帮他们一把，看到云kit也在帮忙，他很高兴。 “我要带其他小鹦鹉去看看那个长满苔藓的好地方！”小鹦鹉带着一大堆被褥摇摇晃晃地走过，得意地叫道。 “好主意。”火心同意道。 他注意到，即使虎爪解除了他对长老们的职责，云kit还是继续帮忙。 也许，这家伙终于对他收养的部落产生了一丝忠诚。 “不过要小心獾！”就在这时，他看见“金花”从苗圃里走出来，把一团脏苔藓推到她面前。 她的肚子被她所携带的幼崽压得圆圆的。 “你好，火心。”她叫道。 “又看到太阳了，这不是很好吗？”火心友好地拍了拍王后的肩膀

lick. "Soon it'll be newleaf," he mewed. "Just in time for your kits. If you—" He broke off and spun around as he heard Tigerclaw's voice behind him, speaking his name. "Fireheart, if you've nothing better to do than stand gossiping with the queens, I have a job for you." Fireheart bit back an angry response. He'd been hunting all morning, and paused for only a few moments to talk to Goldenflower. "I want you to take a patrol along the border of RiverClan," the deputy went on. "No cat has been that way for a few days, and now the snow has gone we need to renew the scent markings. And make sure no RiverClan cats are hunting in our territory. If they are, you know what to do!" "Yes, Tigerclaw," Fireheart mewed. Hedgehogs must be growing wings, he thought, if Tigerclaw had chosen him to lead a patrol! Then he realized that Tigerclaw was too clever to behave hostilely toward him in public. The deputy would be careful to treat him just the same as any other Clan warrior, in case Bluestar noticed. But I still don't trust you! Fireheart thought.

舔。“很快就会是新叶了，”他叫道。 “正好赶上你的装备。 如果你——”他突然停住话头，转过身来，听到背后是虎爪叫他名字的声音。 “火心，如果你除了站在那儿跟王后们说长道短没什么事可做，我有个活儿给你。” 火心生气地回了一句。 他整个上午都在打猎，只停下来和金花说了几句话。 “我要你沿河族边境巡逻。”副手继续说。 “好几天没有猫这样了，现在雪已经走了，我们需要更新气味标记。 确保没有河族的猫在我们的地盘上捕猎。 如果是的话，你知道该怎么做！”“是的，虎爪。”火心叫道。 他想，如果虎爪选他来带领巡逻队，刺猬一定长出了翅膀！然后他意识到虎爪太聪明了，不会在公共场合对他表现出敌意。 副手会小心翼翼地对待他，就像对待其他氏族战士一样，以防蓝星注意到。 但我还是不相信你！Fireheart思想。

Aloud he meowed, "Whom shall I take with me?" "Any cat you like. Or do you need me to hold your paw?" Tigerclaw added with a sneer. "No, Tigerclaw." By now Fireheart could barely keep his tongue curbed; he would have loved to swipe a claw over the deputy's scarred muzzle. He mewed a hasty good-bye to Goldenflower, and headed for the warriors' den. Sandstorm was there, lying on her side and energetically washing, while Graystripe and Runningwind shared tongues nearby. "Who's up for a patrol?" Fireheart called. "Tigerclaw wants us to check the RiverClan border." Graystripe scrambled to his paws right away at the mention of RiverClan, while Runningwind got up more slowly. Sandstorm paused in her washing and looked up at Fireheart. "Just when I was hoping for a bit of peace," she complained. "I've been hunting since dawn." But her tone was good- humored, not remotely as unfriendly as she was when he had first arrived in the Clan, Fireheart thought, and almost at once she got up and shook herself. "All right," she mewed. "Lead on."

他大声叫道：“我该带谁一起去呢？”“你喜欢哪只猫都行。 还是需要我扶着你的爪子？”虎爪冷笑着说。 “不,Tigerclaw。”这时火心已经几乎控制不住自己的舌头了；他真想在副警长伤痕累累的嘴部上抓个爪子。 他匆匆地对“金花”说了声再见，向战士的巢穴走去。 沙暴就在那里，躺在她的身边，精力充沛地洗澡，而灰条和奔风则在附近互相交谈。 “谁想去巡逻？”Fireheart调用。 “虎爪要我们检查河族边境。” 灰条一听到河族的名字，立刻爬了起来，而奔风则爬得更慢。 沙暴停了下来，抬头看着火心。 “就在我希望得到一点安宁的时候，”她抱怨道。 “我从黎明就开始打猎了。” 但她的语气很愉快，一点也不像他刚来到氏族时那样不友好，火心心想。她几乎立刻站了起来，抖了抖身子。 “好吧，”她叫道。“领导”。

"What about Brackenpaw?" Fireheart asked Graystripe. "Do you want to bring him along?" "Whitestorm and Mousefur took the apprentices out," Runningwind explained. "All of the apprentices—more fool them! They're hunting fresh-kill for the elders." Fireheart led the way out of the camp, feeling a tingle in his paws as he leaped up the side of the ravine. It felt like moons since he'd had a good run without snow to freeze his paws off, and he wanted to stretch his muscles. "We'll head for the Sunningrocks," he meowed, "and then follow the border up to Fourtrees." He set a brisk pace through the trees, but not so fast that he failed to notice the brilliant green fronds of new bracken beginning to unfurl, or the first pale buds of primroses pushing out of their green coverings. Birdsong filled the air, and the fresh scent of growing things. He slowed down to a walk as the patrol approached the edge of the forest. Ahead of him he could hear the sound of the river, free at last from its bonds of ice. "We're almost at the border," he meowed quietly. "From here on we

“那爪子呢？”火心问灰条纹。 “你想带他一起去吗？”“白风暴和老鼠把学徒们都带走了。” “所有的学徒——再愚弄他们！”他们正在为长辈们猎杀新鲜的猎物。” 火心带路走出营地，跳上峡谷边时，他的爪子感到一阵刺痛。 自从没有雪把爪子冻僵后，他感觉像过了好几个月，他想伸展一下肌肉。 “我们去桑宁岩，”他叫道，“然后沿着边界走到四树山。” 他快步穿过树林，但他没有走得太快，以至于没有注意到新长出来的蕨菜嫩绿的叶子，也没有注意到樱草花的第一批嫩芽从绿色的覆盖物中露出来。 空气中充满了鸟鸣声和植物生长的清香。 当巡逻队接近森林边缘时，他放慢了脚步。 他能听到前面河水的声音，终于从冰封中解脱出来了。 “我们快到边境了。”他轻声叫道。 “从现在起我们