Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22 Tigerclaw went on ahead, and by the time Fireheart and Cinderpaw reached the camp with Silverstream's kits, the whole Clan knew what had happened. Warriors and apprentices had gathered outside their dens, watching in silence. Fireheart could almost smell their shock and disbelief. Bluestar stood at the entrance to the nursery as if she was waiting for them. Fireheart half expected her to turn them away, refusing to take care of a different Clan's kits, but she only meowed quietly, "Come inside." In the heart of the bramble thicket, all was dim and quiet. Brindleface was curled around her kits, asleep in a heap of gray and tawny fur with Cloudkit's white coat shining among them like a patch of snow. Close by her, in a nest of moss lined with downy feathers, Goldenflower lay on her side, suckling her new kits. One was a pale ginger color like Goldenflower herself, and the other a dark tabby. "Goldenflower," murmured Bluestar, "I have something to ask you. Can you manage two more? Their mother has just died."

第二十二章虎爪走在前面，当火心和灰爪带着银溪的工具箱来到营地时，整个氏族都知道发生了什么事。 武士和学徒们聚集在他们的洞穴外，默默地看着。 火心几乎能闻到他们的震惊和难以置信。 蓝星站在育儿室门口，好像在等着他们。 火心半以为她会拒绝他们，拒绝照顾另一个部落的工具包，但她只是轻轻地喵喵地叫了一声：“进来吧。” 在荆棘丛的中心，一切都是朦胧而安静的。 Brindleface蜷缩在她的幼崽周围，睡在一堆灰褐色的毛皮中，Cloudkit的白色外套在它们中间闪闪发光，就像一块雪。 在她旁边，一个长满绒毛的苔藓窝里，“金花”躺在她身边，给她的新宝宝喂奶。 一只是淡姜黄色的，就像“金花”一样，另一只是深色的虎斑猫。 “金花，”蓝星喃喃地说，“我有件事要问你。 你能再安排两个吗？他们的母亲刚刚去世。”

Goldenflower raised her head, her startled look softening when she saw the two helpless scraps of fur dangling from Fireheart's and Cinderpaw's mouths. They had begun to wriggle feebly, giving out thin, high-pitched mews of fear and hunger. "I suppose—" Goldenflower began. "Wait," Speckletail interrupted; she had padded into the nursery just behind Fireheart. "Before you agree to anything, Goldenflower, ask Bluestar to tell you whose kits these are." Fireheart felt a pang of anxiety. Though Speckletail was a good mother, she had a ferocious temper, and he guessed she would not look kindly on kits that were neither one Clan nor the other. "I would not hide such a thing from her," Bluestar meowed calmly. "Goldenflower, these are Graystripe's kits. Their mother was Silverstream—a RiverClan cat." Goldenflower's eyes widened in astonishment, and Brindleface, roused from her doze, pricked up her ears. "Graystripe must have been slinking off for

金花抬起头，当她看到火心和灰姑娘爪子嘴里挂着的那两片无助的皮毛时，惊恐的表情缓和了下来。 它们开始无力地扭动身体，发出尖细的叫声，表示恐惧和饥饿。 “我想——”金花开始说。 “等等。”斑点尾巴打断他。她蹑手蹑脚地走进了火心后面的育儿室。 “在你同意任何事情之前，金花，让蓝星告诉你这些是谁的工具包。” 火心感到一阵焦虑。 虽然斑点尾巴是个好母亲，但她脾气暴躁，他猜她不会对既不是一个氏族也不是另一个氏族的小套件友善。 “我不会对她隐瞒这样的事情，”蓝星平静地喵喵叫道。 “Goldenflower，这些是Graystripe的装备。 它们的妈妈是银溪——河族的一只猫。” 金花惊讶地睁大了眼睛，斑脸也从瞌睡中惊醒，竖起了耳朵。 “‘灰条’一定是偷偷溜走了

moons to see her," Speckletail hissed. "What loyal cat would do that? They both betrayed their Clans. There's bad blood in those kits." "Nonsense," Bluestar spat back, her hackles suddenly raised. Fireheart winced—he had rarely seen his leader so angry. "Whatever we think about Graystripe and Silverstream, the kits are innocent. Will you take them, Goldenflower? They'll die without a mother." Goldenflower hesitated, and then let out a long breath. "How can I say no? I have plenty of milk." Speckletail let out a snort of disapproval and pointedly turned her back as Fireheart and Cinderpaw gently laid the kits in Goldenflower's nest. The pale ginger queen bent over to guide them toward her belly, and their miserable squeaking died away as they burrowed into the warmth of her body and found a place to suckle. "Thank you, Goldenflower," purred Bluestar. Fireheart realized that she was looking down at the young kits with an expression of longing. He wondered if she was thinking about her own lost kits, and his doubts about what had really

小斑点尾巴嘶嘶地说。 “哪只忠诚的猫会这么做？” 他们都背叛了自己的家族。 那些套件里有不好的血液。” “胡说，”蓝星反驳道，她的怒气陡然上升。 火心畏缩了一下——他很少看到他的领袖如此生气。 “无论我们如何看待Graystripe和Silverstream，这些套件都是无辜的。 你愿意接受吗，金花？ 没有母亲他们会死的。” 金花犹豫了一下，然后长长地呼了一口气。 “我怎么能拒绝呢？”我有很多牛奶。” 当火心和灰姑娘爪子轻轻地把小宝贝放在金花的窝里时，小亮尾巴发出一声不以为然的哼声，直截了当地转过身去。 苍白的姜色女王弯下腰，把它们引到她的肚子里，当它们钻进她温暖的身体里，找到一个吮吸的地方时，它们可怜的吱吱声消失了。 “谢谢你，金花，”蓝星咕噜着。 火心意识到，她正带着渴望的表情俯视着这对幼崽。 他想知道她是不是在想她自己丢失的工具包，而他对到底发生了什么感到怀疑

happened to them came flooding back. Could they possibly be Mistyfoot and Stonefur, alive and well in RiverClan? Did she have any idea? His thoughts were interrupted when Cinderpaw turned abruptly and made her way out of the den. Fireheart followed her, to find her crouching outside with her head bowed onto her front paws. "What's the matter?" he asked. "Silverstream died." Fireheart could hardly hear her muffled reply. "I let her die." "That's not true!" Cinderpaw looked up, blinking. Her eyes were blue pools of misery. "I'm supposed to be a medicine cat. I'm supposed to save lives." "You saved the two kits," Fireheart reminded her, moving closer and pressing the side of his face against her cheek. "But I didn't save Silverstream." A wave of sympathy washed over Fireheart. He understood how Cinderpaw felt, and he wanted to tell her she was wrong to blame herself, but he didn't have the words. Feeling useless and saddened, he began to lick her gently. "What's going on?" Fireheart looked up to see

发生在他们身上的事情又涌了回来。 他们会不会是迷雾脚和石弗，活得好好的在河族？ 她知道吗？他的思绪被灰姑娘突然转身走出洞穴打断了。 火心跟着她，发现她蹲在外面，头低在前爪上。 “怎么了？”他问。 “Silverstream死了。”火心几乎听不见她低沉的回答。 “我让她死了。”“那不是真的！”灰姑娘抬起头，眨着眼睛。 她的眼睛是痛苦的蓝色水潭。 “我应该是一只药猫。 我应该拯救生命。” “你救了那两个工具包。”火心提醒她，走近一点，把脸的一侧贴在她的脸颊上。 “但我没有拯救银溪。” 一阵同情的浪潮席卷了火心。 他理解Cinderpaw的感受，他想告诉她自责是不对的，但是他不知道该说什么。 他感到无助和悲伤，开始轻轻地舔她。 “发生什么事了？”火心抬起头来看

Yellowfang standing in front of them, a puzzled frown on her broad gray face. "What's this I hear about Graystripe and a RiverClan queen?" Cinderpaw didn't even seem to notice that her mentor was there. It was left to Fireheart to explain. "Cinderpaw was brilliant," he told the elderly medicine cat. "Those kits would have died without her." Yellowfang nodded. "I've seen Tigerclaw," she rasped. "Brackenfur was taking me to the Sunningrocks when we ran into him. He's furious about the kits. But he's not furious with you, Cinderpaw," she added. "He knows you did your duty, just as any medicine cat would." Cinderpaw glanced up at that. "I'll never be a medicine cat," she spat bitterly. "I'm useless. I let Silverstream die." "What?" snarled Yellowfang angrily, arching her skinny gray body. "That's the most mouse- brained thing I've ever heard." "Yellowfang—" Fireheart began to protest at her harsh tone, but the medicine cat ignored him. "You did your best, Cinderpaw," she growled.

黄芳站在他们面前，灰色的宽脸上疑惑地皱着眉头。 “我听说灰条纹和河族女王是怎么回事？”Cinderpaw甚至没有注意到她的导师在那里。 只有火心来解释。 “灰姑娘的爪子太棒了，”他对年老的药猫说。 “如果没有她，那些幼崽就会死去。” Yellowfang点点头。“我见过虎爪。”她粗声说。 “布莱肯弗正带我去桑宁岩，我们撞见了他。 他对这些装备很生气。 但是他并没有生你的气，灰姑娘。”她补充道。 “他知道你尽了你的责任，就像任何一只药猫一样。” 灰姑娘抬起头看了一眼。 “我永远不会成为一只药猫，”她苦涩地啐了一口。 “我是无用的。我让银溪去死。” “什么？”黄牙怒吼道，拱起她瘦削的灰色身躯。 “这是我听过的最愚蠢的事情。” “黄牙——”火心开始抗议她的严厉语气，但药猫不理他。 “你已经尽力了，Cinderpaw，”她咆哮道。

"No cat can do more." "But it wasn't good enough," Cinderpaw pointed out dully. "If you'd been there, you would have saved her." "Oh? StarClan told you that, did they? Cinderpaw, sometimes cats die, and no cat can do anything about it." She let out a rusty mew, half laughter, half scolding. "Not even me." "But I lost her, Yellowfang." "I know. And that's a hard lesson." Now there was rough sympathy in the old cat's meow. "But I've lost cats before now—more cats than I care to count. Every medicine cat in the world has. You live with it. You go on." She nudged Cinderpaw with her battle-scarred muzzle, and went on nudging until the younger cat rose unsteadily to her paws. "Come on. There's work to be done. Smallear's complaining about his aching joints again." She herded Cinderpaw in the direction of her den and paused to glance over her shoulder at Fireheart. "Don't worry," she told him. "She'll be fine." Fireheart watched the two cats cross the

“没有猫能做得更多。”“但是还不够好，”灰姑娘沉闷地指出。 “如果你当时在场，你会救她的。” “哦?StarClan告诉你的，是吗？ 灰姑娘，有时候猫死了，没有猫能做什么。” 她发出一声生涩的声音，一半是笑，一半是骂。 “连我也没有。”“可是我把她弄丢了，黄牙。” “我知道。这是一个艰难的教训。” 现在这只老猫的喵喵声里透着粗暴的同情。 “但是我以前丢过猫——多得我都记不清了。 世界上所有的药猫都有。 你要忍受它。你继续说吧。” 她用她那伤痕累累的嘴部推了推灰姑娘爪子，一直推下去，直到小猫摇摇晃晃地站到她的爪子旁边。 “来吧。还有工作要做。 斯莫尔又在抱怨他的关节疼了。” 她把灰姑娘爪朝她的窝的方向赶去，停下来回头看了看火心。 “别担心，”她告诉他。 “她会没事的。”火心看着两只猫穿过河