Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 Fireheart stepped out of the ferns that enclosed the apprentices' den and stretched out his front paws. It was just after sunrise, and the sky was already a pale eggshell blue, promising fine weather after days of cloud and rain. In Fireheart's opinion, sleeping in the apprentice den was the worst part of his punishment. Every time he went in there, Thornpaw and Brightpaw stared at him with huge eyes, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Brackenpaw just looked acutely embarrassed, while Swiftpaw—encouraged by his mentor, Longtail, Fireheart guessed—openly sneered. Fireheart found it hard to relax, and his sleep was broken by dreams in which Spottedleaf bounded toward him, meowing a warning that he could never remember when he woke. Now Fireheart stretched his jaws in a massive yawn and settled down to give himself a thorough wash. Graystripe was still sleeping; soon Fireheart would have to wake him and find a warrior to supervise them on yet another hunting patrol. As Fireheart washed, he saw Bluestar and

第十六章火心从包围学徒洞穴的蕨类植物丛中走出来，伸出前爪。 日出刚过，天空已经是淡淡的蛋壳蓝，预示着连日的阴雨过后会有好天气。 在火心看来，睡在学徒窝里是对他最糟糕的惩罚。 每次他进去，刺爪和亮爪都用大眼睛盯着他，好像他们不敢相信他们所看到的。 爪子只是显得非常尴尬，而swiftpaw——火心猜想是受到了它的导师长尾巴的鼓励——公开地冷笑起来。 火心很难放松下来，他的睡眠被梦中点点树叶蹦蹦跳跳地朝他扑过来，喵喵地警告他，他再也记不起自己是什么时候醒来的。 现在火心张开嘴，打了一个大大的哈欠，坐下来给自己彻底洗了个澡。 “灰条”还在睡觉；很快，火心就不得不叫醒他，找一个勇士来监督他们进行又一次的狩猎巡逻。 火心洗衣服时，他看到了蓝星和

Tigerclaw sitting at the foot of the Highrock, deep in conversation. Idly he wondered what they were talking about. Then Bluestar gave a flick of her tail to summon him. Fireheart sprang up at once and bounded across the camp. "Fireheart," Bluestar meowed as he approached, "Tigerclaw and I think you've been punished enough. You and Graystripe can be full warriors again." Fireheart felt almost giddy with relief. "Thank you, Bluestar!" he meowed. "Let's hope it's taught you a lesson," growled Tigerclaw. "Tigerclaw is going to lead a patrol up to Fourtrees," Bluestar went on before Fireheart could respond. "In two nights the moon will be full, and we need to know if we can make it to the Gathering. Tigerclaw, will you take Fireheart with you?" Fireheart couldn't interpret the gleam in the deputy's amber eyes. He didn't look pleased— Tigerclaw never did—but there was a certain dark satisfaction, as if he would enjoy putting Fireheart through his paces. Fireheart didn't care. He was

虎爪坐在海岩山脚下，沉浸在谈话中。 他漫不经心地想知道他们在谈些什么。 然后蓝星甩了甩尾巴召唤他。 火心立刻跳起来，越过营地。 “火心，”蓝星走近时叫道，“虎爪和我认为你已经受够了惩罚。 你和灰条又可以成为真正的战士了。” 火心几乎松了一口气。 “谢谢你，蓝星！” “但愿这给了你一个教训。”虎爪咆哮道。 “虎爪要带队到四树树去巡逻。”还没等火心反应过来，蓝星又说。 “再过两个晚上，月亮就要圆了，我们得知道能不能去参加聚会。 虎爪，你能带上火心吗？”火心无法解读副警长琥珀色眼睛里的光芒。 他看上去并不高兴——虎爪从来没有过——但是有一种阴暗的满足感，好像他很喜欢考验火心的能力。 火心不在乎。他是

thrilled that Bluestar was trusting him with a real warriors' mission again. "He can come," Tigerclaw meowed. "But if he puts a paw wrong, I'll want to know the reason why." His dark coat rippled as he heaved himself to his paws. "I'll find another cat to go with us." Fireheart watched him as he strode across the clearing and disappeared into the warriors' den. "This will be an important Gathering," murmured Bluestar beside him. "We need to find out how the other Clans are coping with the floods. It's important for our Clan to be there." "We'll find a way, Bluestar," Fireheart assured her. But his confidence drained rapidly away a moment later when he saw Tigerclaw reappear from the den. The cat who followed him out was Longtail. It looked as if Tigerclaw had chosen the third member of the patrol deliberately to disadvantage Fireheart. Fireheart felt a hard lump of apprehension in his stomach. He wasn't sure that he wanted to go out alone with Tigerclaw and Longtail. The memory of the battle with RiverClan was still too

很高兴蓝星再次信任他，让他承担起真正的战士使命。 “他会来的。”虎爪叫道。 “但如果他放错了一只爪子，我要知道原因。” 当他爬起来的时候，他的黑色皮毛泛起了涟漪。 “我再找一只猫和我们一起去。” 火心看着他大步穿过空地，消失在战士们的洞穴里。 “这将是一次重要的聚会，”他身边的蓝星喃喃地说。 “我们需要了解其他部落是如何应对洪水的。 这对我们的家族来说非常重要。” “我们会有办法的，蓝星。”火心向她保证。 但过了一会儿，当他看到虎爪又从洞穴里出来时，他的信心迅速消失了。 跟着他出去的那只猫叫长尾巴。 虎爪似乎故意选择了第三个巡逻队员，使火心处于不利地位。 火心感到肚子里一阵沉重的恐惧。 他不确定自己是否想和虎爪和长尾巴单独出去。 与大河氏族之战的记忆依然历历在目

fresh, when Tigerclaw had watched him struggling with a fierce warrior and made no move to help him. And Longtail had been his enemy ever since he had set paw in the camp. For a moment, fearful pictures of the two cats turning on him in the depths of the forest and murdering him whirled through Fireheart's mind. Then he shook himself. He was scaring himself like a kit listening to some elder's tale. No doubt Tigerclaw would make unreasonable demands of him, and Longtail would enjoy every moment, but Fireheart wasn't afraid of being challenged. He'd show them that he was a warrior equal to them in every way that mattered! Saying a respectful good-bye to Bluestar, he raced across the clearing and followed Tigerclaw and Longtail out of the camp. The sun rose higher, and the sky turned to a deep blue as the cats journeyed through the forest toward Fourtrees. The ferns were weighted with glittering drops of dew that clung to Fireheart's fur as he brushed past. Birds sang, and branches rustled with freshly opened leaves. Newleaf had really come at last.

当虎爪看到他和一个凶猛的战士搏斗，却没有伸出援手时，他感到很新鲜。 自从长尾来到营地，就一直是他的敌人。 一时间，两只猫在森林深处向他扑来，把他杀死的可怕画面在火心的脑海里盘旋。 然后他抖了抖身子。他把自己吓得像个听长者讲故事的小鬼。 毫无疑问，虎爪会对他提出不合理的要求，长尾巴会享受每一刻，但火心不怕受到挑战。 他要向他们表明，他在所有重要的方面都是与他们平等的战士！他恭恭敬敬地向蓝星道了别，跑过空地，跟着虎爪和长尾巴出了营地。 太阳升得更高了，当猫们穿过森林向四棵树走去时，天空变成了深蓝色。 当火心走过时，蕨类植物上挂满了闪闪发光的露珠。 鸟儿在歌唱，新开的树叶在树枝上沙沙作响。 纽利夫终于真的来了。

As he padded after Tigerclaw, Fireheart was distracted by tempting movements in the undergrowth as prey scurried to and fro. After a while the deputy let them stop and hunt for themselves. He was in an unusually good mood, Fireheart thought, relaxing enough to praise the flame-pelted warrior as he pounced on a particularly speedy vole. Even Longtail kept his unfriendly comments to himself. When they went on, Fireheart's stomach was warm and full from the vole he had eaten. His uneasy feelings vanished. On a day like this he couldn't help feeling optimistic, sure that they would soon have good news to take back to Bluestar. Then they reached the top of a slope and looked down toward the stream that crossed ThunderClan territory, separating them from Fourtrees. Tigerclaw let out a long, soft hiss, and Longtail yowled in dismay. Fireheart shared their exasperation. Usually the stream was shallow enough for cats to cross easily, keeping their paws dry by leaping from rock to rock. Now the water had spread into a

当他蹑手蹑脚地追赶虎爪时，火心被灌木丛中诱人的动作分散了注意力，猎物跑来跑去。 过了一会儿，副警长让他们停下来自己去找。 火心心想，他的心情异常好，当他扑向一只跑得特别快的田鼠时，他很放松地称赞了这位浑身是火焰的战士。 就连长尾巴也把不友好的话藏在心里。 他们继续往前走，火心吃了田鼠，胃里又暖和又饱。 他不安的感觉消失了。 在这样的日子里，他不禁感到乐观，相信他们很快就会有好消息带回蓝星。 然后，他们来到一个斜坡的顶端，朝下望去，那条穿过雷霆部落领地的小溪把他们和四棵树隔开了。 虎爪发出一声长长的、柔和的嘶嘶声，长尾巴惊恐地嚎叫着。 火心和他们一样恼怒。 通常，这条小溪很浅，猫可以很容易地过河，它们会在岩石间跳跃，以保持爪子的干爽。 现在水已经扩散成一片

glistening sheet on either side, while the current churned swiftly along the original course of the stream. "Fancy crossing that?" spat Longtail. "I don't." Without a word, Tigerclaw began padding upstream, following the edge of the floodwater toward the Thunderpath. The land sloped gently upward, and before long, Fireheart could see that the shining surface was broken by tussocks of grass and clumps of bracken poking above the water. "This isn't as deep as when Whitestorm last reported," Tigerclaw meowed. "We'll try to cross here." Fireheart had his doubts that the water would be shallow enough, but he kept them to himself. He knew if he objected, he would just get the usual sneers about his soft kittypet background. Instead he quietly followed Tigerclaw, who was already wading into the flood. He couldn't help noticing that Longtail's ears twitched nervously as he splashed in beside him. The water felt cold as it lapped at Fireheart's legs. He picked his way carefully, tracing a zigzag course toward the nearest bank of the stream by

两边都是闪闪发光的薄片，而水流则沿着原来的河道迅速翻滚。 “你想穿过这条河吗？”长尾巴啐道。 “我不。”虎爪二话没说，顺着洪水的边缘向雷暴道上游驶去。 地面缓缓地向上倾斜，没过多久，火心就看见闪闪发光的地面被一簇簇的草和一簇簇的蕨菜露出水面。 “这没有白风暴上次报道的那么深。”虎爪喵喵地说。 “我们想办法从这里过去。” 火心怀疑水是否足够浅，但他都憋在心里。 他知道，如果他反对，他只会像往常一样受到嘲笑，因为他是一只温柔的小猫。 相反，他静静地跟在虎爪后面，虎爪已经趟进了洪水里。 他不禁注意到，当长尾巴在他身边喷水时，它的耳朵紧张地抽搐着。 水打在火心的腿上，冰凉的。 他小心地选择了一条曲折的路线，朝最近的河岸走去