Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 "No!" Graystripe yowled, launching himself after the drowning kit. Fireheart lost sight of them. The kit left on the mat squealed desperately, trying to cling to the twigs as they were split apart by the current. With the last of his strength Fireheart drove himself forward, sank his teeth into the little creature's scruff, and kicked out for dry ground. Within moments he felt stones under his paws and managed to stand. Stone-limbed with weariness, he staggered out and dropped the black kit on the grass at the edge of the flood. Its eyes were closed; he was not sure if it was still alive. Glancing downstream, he saw Graystripe splashing out of the shallows, with the gray kit gripped firmly in his teeth. He padded up to Fireheart and set it gently on the ground. Fireheart nosed both kits. They were lying very still, but when Fireheart looked closer he could see the faint rise and fall of their flanks as they breathed. "Thank StarClan," he muttered. He began to lick the black kit as he had seen the queens in the nursery do to their little ones,

第十二章“不！”灰条纹嚎叫着，扑向那件溺水的装备。 火心看不见他们了。 留在垫子上的工具箱拼命地尖叫着，试图抓住被水流劈开的小树枝。 火心用尽最后的力气向前冲去，咬住了这个小东西的颈毛，向干燥的地面踢去。 不一会儿，他就感觉到爪子下面有石头，勉强站了起来。 他疲倦得像石头一样，摇摇晃晃地走了出去，把黑色的工具箱丢在了洪水边的草地上。 它的眼睛闭着；他不确定它是否还活着。 他朝下游瞥了一眼，看见“灰条”从浅滩上扑腾而出，嘴里紧紧地咬着那套灰色的装备。 他蹑手蹑脚地走到火心身边，轻轻地把它放在地上。 火心嗅了嗅两个套件。 他们一动不动地躺着，但当火心仔细观察时，他能看到他们呼吸时腹部微弱的起伏。 “谢谢StarClan。”他喃喃地说。 他开始舔那只黑色的盒子，就像他看到育婴室里的蚁后舔它们的孩子一样，

rasping his tongue against the lie of the fur to rouse the kit and warm it. Graystripe crouched beside him and did the same for the gray kit. Soon the black kit twitched and coughed up a mouthful of river water. It took longer for the gray kit to respond, but at last it too coughed up water and opened its eyes. "They're alive!" exclaimed Graystripe, his voice filled with relief. "Yes, but they won't live long without their mother," Fireheart pointed out. He sniffed the black kit carefully. The river water had washed off much of the Clan scent, but he could still detect a faint trace. "RiverClan," he mewed, unsurprised. "We'll have to take them home." Fireheart's courage almost deserted him for good at the thought of crossing the swollen river. He had almost drowned rescuing the kits, and he felt exhausted. His limbs were cold and stiff, and his fur was soaked. He wanted nothing more than to creep into his own den and sleep for a moon. Graystripe, still crouched over the gray kit, looked as if he felt the same. His thick gray fur was flattened against his body, and his amber eyes

他的舌头在毛皮上摩擦，唤醒了它，温暖了它。 灰条蹲在他身边，对着那件灰色的衣服也做了同样的事。 不一会儿，黑色的小箱子抽搐了一下，咳出了一口河水。 灰色的套件花了更长的时间才做出反应，但最后它也咳出了水，睁开了眼睛。 “他们还活着！”格雷斯特喊道，声音里充满了宽慰。 “是的，但是没有妈妈他们活不了多久。”火心指出。 他仔细地嗅了嗅黑色的盒子。 河水冲走了氏族的大部分气味，但他仍能察觉到一丝微弱的痕迹。 “大河家族。”他毫不惊讶地叫道。 “我们得把它们带回家。” 一想到要过河，火心几乎失去了勇气。 他在抢救这些小器具时差点淹死，他感到筋疲力尽。 他的四肢又冷又僵，皮毛也湿透了。 他只想钻进自己的窝里，睡上一个月。 灰色条纹，仍然蹲在灰色的装备上，看起来他也有同样的感觉。 他那厚厚的灰色皮毛紧贴着身体，还有琥珀色的眼睛

were wide with anxiety. "Do you think we can get across?" he meowed. "We've got to, or the kits will die." Forcing himself to his paws, Fireheart picked up the black kit again by its scruff and headed downstream. "Let's see if we can cross by the stepping-stones, like you said." Graystripe padded after him, carrying the gray kit through the wet grass at the edge of the floodwater. When the river was at its usual level, the stepping-stones were an easy route across for RiverClan cats. The longest leap from rock to rock was no more than a tail-length, and RiverClan controlled the territory here on both sides of the river. Now floodwater completely covered the stones. But where they had once broken the surface, a dead tree, its bark stripped away, lay across the river. Fireheart guessed that some of its branches had been caught on the submerged stepping-stones. "Thank StarClan!" he exclaimed. "We can use the tree to cross." He adjusted his grip on the kit and waded out into the flood toward the splintered end of the tree trunk. The

我们非常焦虑。“你觉得我们能过去吗？”他叫道。 “我们必须这么做，否则这些幼崽会死的。” 火心硬撑着自己的爪子，再次抓住黑工具箱的颈毛，朝下游走去。 “我们看看能不能像你说的那样，从台阶上走过去。” 灰条在他后面紧跟着，拿着灰色的工具箱穿过洪水边潮湿的草地。 当河水处于正常水位时，这些垫脚石对河族的猫来说是很容易通过的。 从一块岩石跳到另一块岩石的最远距离不过尾巴那么长，河族控制着河两岸的领土。 现在洪水完全淹没了石头。 但是，在他们曾经冲破水面的地方，一棵枯死的树，剥去了树皮，躺在河对面。 火心猜想，它的一些树枝被淹没在水里的垫脚石绊住了。 “谢谢StarClan!” “我们可以用这棵树过河。” 他调整了一下握在工具包上的手，涉水进入了洪水中，朝着树干断裂的一端走去。 的

kit, seeing the churning water barely a mouse- length below its nose, began to mewl and struggle feebly. "Keep still, both of you," growled Graystripe gently, as he set down the gray kit for a moment to adjust his grip. "We're going to find your mother." Fireheart wasn't sure if his terrified kit was even old enough to understand, but at least it went limp again so it was easier to carry. He had to lift his head high to keep the tiny creature clear of the water as he floundered toward the tree. He reached it without needing to swim and sprang upward, clawing for a grip on the soft, rotting wood. Once he had pulled himself up, his main concern was keeping a pawhold on the smooth, slippery trunk. Gingerly placing each of his paws in a straight line, Fireheart padded toward the opposite bank with the river churning beneath him, sucking at the tree as if it wanted to sweep it, and its burden of cats, away downstream. Fireheart glanced back to see Graystripe following with the gray kit, his face creased with determination.

基特看见翻腾的水在它鼻子下面只有老鼠那么高，就开始呜咽和无力地挣扎。 “别动，你们两个。”灰条温和地吼道，他把灰色工具箱放下了一会儿，调整了一下握法。 “我们要去找你妈妈。” 火心不确定他那受惊的工具箱是不是已经长大了，能不能理解，但至少它又变软了，这样更容易携带。 当他挣扎着向树游去的时候，他不得不把头抬得高高的，不让这个小生物沾到水。 他不需要游泳就能爬到树下，跳了起来，用爪子抓住柔软腐烂的木头。 一旦他把自己拉上来，他主要关心的是如何抓住光滑光滑的树干。 火心小心翼翼地把两只爪子排成一条直线，蹑手蹑脚地朝对岸走去，河水在他身下翻腾，它吮吸着那棵树，仿佛要把它和树上的一群猫卷到下游去。 火心回头瞥了一眼，看到灰条拿着灰色的装备跟在后面，他的脸上布满了决心。

At the far end the trunk divided into a tangle of broken branches. Fireheart ducked down to squeeze through them, being careful not to let the kit's fur catch on the splinters. It was harder to find a pawhold as the branches tapered, and he ran out of anything that might bear his weight when there was still a gap of a couple of fox- lengths separating him from the far side of the river. Fireheart took a deep breath, flexed his hindlegs, and leaped. His front paws hit the bank while his hind paws kicked madly in the rushing current. As water splashed up, the kit started to struggle again. Fireheart kept his teeth clenched in its neck fur as he sank his front claws into the soft earth and scrabbled upward until he stood safely on the bank. He lurched forward a few paces and set the kit down gently. Glancing around, he saw Graystripe pulling himself out of the water a little way downstream. He lowered the gray kit to the ground and shook himself. "The river water tastes foul," he spat. "Look on the bright side," Fireheart suggested. "At least it should disguise your scent. The RiverClan cats won't know that you're the warrior

在远端，树干分成一团乱糟糟的断枝。 火心蹲下身子想挤过去，小心翼翼地不让套件的皮毛碰到碎片。 由于树枝越来越细，找一个抓手变得越来越难了，而且他已经找不到任何能承受他体重的东西了，而他和河对岸之间还有几只狐狸那么长的距离。 火心深吸一口气，弯起后腿，跳了起来。 它的前爪撞到了岸边，后爪在湍急的水流中疯狂地乱踢。 当水溅起时，工具箱又开始挣扎起来。 火心咬紧牙关，把前爪伸进松软的泥土里，往上爬，直到安全站在河岸上。 他蹒跚地向前走了几步，轻轻地放下了工具箱。 他向四周看了看，看到灰条纹在下游不远的地方把自己从水里拽了出来。 他把灰色的工具箱放到地上，抖了抖身子。 “河水很难闻，”他吐了口唾沫。 “往好的方面想。”火心建议道。 “至少它能掩盖你的气味。 河族的猫不会知道你是勇士

who's been trespassing on their territory. If they ever found out—" He broke off as three cats crashed out of the bushes just beyond Graystripe. Fireheart braced himself as he recognized Leopardfur, the RiverClan deputy, and the warriors Blackclaw and Stonefur. Forcing his tired legs to move, he picked up the black kit and padded along the bank to stand beside Graystripe. The gray warrior hauled himself to his paws, and the two cats set down their burdens and faced their enemies together. Fireheart wondered if the RiverClan cats had overheard what he was saying to Graystripe. He knew that he and Graystripe were too exhausted to stand up to a patrol of strong, fresh warriors, and his head spun as he tried to summon enough energy for a fight into his frozen paws. But to his relief, the RiverClan cats halted a few tail-lengths away. "What's this?" growled Leopardfur. Her golden-spotted fur bristled, and her ears were flattened against her head. Beside her, Blackclaw stood with his lips drawn back in a snarl. "Why are you trespassing

侵入他们领地的人。 如果他们发现了——”他停住了话头，三只猫突然从灰条纹街那边的灌木丛中窜了出来。 火心鼓起勇气，认出了河族的代表利奥帕福，以及黑爪和石佛两名战士。 他强迫自己疲倦的双腿移动起来，拿起黑色的工具箱，沿着河岸慢慢地走到格雷stripe身边。 灰衣武士站起身来，两只猫放下担子，一起面对敌人。 火心不知道河族的猫们是否听到了他对灰条纹说的话。 他知道自己和灰条纹已经筋疲力尽，无法抵挡一群强壮、新鲜的战士，他的头在旋转，试图把足够的能量集中到冻僵的爪子里。 但让他松了一口气的是，河族的猫停在了几尾远的地方。 “这是什么？”豹皮咆哮道。 她的金色斑点毛竖起来，耳朵贴在头上。 黑爪缩着嘴唇，咆哮着站在她身边。 “你为什么擅自闯入？