Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25 Fireheart paused at the edge of the trees. "Wait," he warned Cloudpaw. "We're near Twolegplace, so we have to be careful. What can you smell?" Cloudpaw raised his nose obediently and sniffed. He and Fireheart had just been on the first long expedition of his apprenticeship, tracing the Clan boundaries and renewing the scent marks. Now they were near Fireheart's old kittypet home, outside the garden where Cloudpaw's mother Princess lived. "I can smell lots of cats," Cloudpaw mewed. "I don't recognize any of them, though." "That's good," Fireheart told him. "They're mostly kittypets, and maybe a loner or two. Not Clan cats." He had caught a trace of Tigerclaw's scent, too, but he didn't draw Cloudpaw's attention to it. He remembered the day long ago, when snow was on the ground, when he had tracked Tigerclaw to this place, and found the deputy's scent mixed with the scents of many strange cats. Now Tigerclaw's scent proved he had been

第二十五章火心在树林边停了下来。 “等等。”他警告云爪。 “我们在巴黎附近，所以我们必须小心。 你能闻到什么？”云爪听话地抬起鼻子嗅了嗅。 他和火心刚刚开始了他学徒生涯中的第一次长途探险，追踪氏族的边界，重新发现了气味的痕迹。 现在他们离火心小猫的老家很近了，就在云爪的母亲公主住的花园外面。 “我能闻到很多猫的味道，”云爪喵喵地说。 “不过，我一个也不认识。” “很好。”火心对他说。 “它们大多是小猫，可能还有一两个独来独往的。 不是家族猫。”他也闻到了虎爪的气味，但他没有引起云爪的注意。 他想起了很久以前的一天，当时地上有雪，他跟踪虎爪来到这个地方，发现副警长的气味和许多奇怪的猫的气味混合在一起。 现在虎爪的气味证明他去过

here again. Fireheart still could not tell whether he had met the other cats, or whether their scents just happened to have crossed. But why should Tigerclaw come so close to the Twolegplace, when he despised Twolegs and everything to do with them? "Fireheart, can we go and see my mother now?" Cloudpaw demanded. "Can you smell dogs? Or fresh Twoleg scent?" Cloudpaw sniffed again and shook his head. "Then let's go," mewed Fireheart. Looking carefully around, he stepped out into the open. Cloudpaw followed him with exaggerated caution, as if he wanted to show Fireheart how quickly he could learn. Since his apprentice ceremony the day before, Cloudpaw had been unusually quiet. He was obviously trying very hard to be a good apprentice, listening to everything Fireheart told him with wide-eyed seriousness. But Fireheart couldn't help asking himself how long this uncharacteristic humility would last. Instructing Cloudpaw to wait, he leaped onto the fence and looked down into the garden. Lurid-colored

这里。火心还是搞不清自己是遇到了其他猫，还是它们的气味碰巧交汇了。 但是虎爪既然鄙视特立格和与之有关的一切，为什么还要如此接近特立格呢？ “火心，我们现在可以去看我妈妈了吗？”Cloudpaw问道。 “你能闻到狗的味道吗？”还是新鲜的特沃莱格香水？”云爪又抽了抽鼻子，摇了摇头。 “那我们走吧。”火心叫道。 他仔细地环顾四周，走到空地上。 云爪小心翼翼地跟在他后面，好像想让火心看看他学得有多快。 自从前一天的学徒典礼后，云爪就异常安静。 他显然很努力地想当个好徒弟，认真地听着火心说的每一句话。 但火心忍不住问自己，这种不寻常的谦逊能持续多久？ 他吩咐云爪等着，跳上篱笆，朝花园望去。 Lurid-colored

flowers grew against the fence, and in the center of the grass some Twoleg pelts hung on a spiky, leafless tree. "Princess?" he called softly. "Princess, are you there?" Leaves quivered on a shrub close to the house, and the tabby-and-white figure of Princess stepped delicately onto the grass. When she saw him she let out a delighted meow. "Fireheart!" Bounding over to the fence, she sprang up beside him and pressed her cheek against his. "Fireheart, it's been such a long time!" she purred. "It's good to see you." "I've brought someone else, too," Fireheart told her. "Look down there." Princess peered over the fence to where Cloudpaw sat on the ground below, looking up at her. "Fireheart!" she exclaimed. "That's couldn't be Cloudkit! He's grown so much!" Without waiting to be told, Cloudpaw leaped for the top of the fence, paws scrabbling madly against the smooth wood. Fireheart leant over and fastened his teeth in his scruff to pull him up the last couple of mouse-lengths so that he could sit on the fence beside his mother.

篱笆边上长着鲜花，草地中央一棵长满尖刺的光秃秃的树上挂着一些特沃列格狗的皮毛。 “公主？”他轻声叫道。 “公主，你在吗？”靠近房子的灌木丛上的叶子在颤动，公主的斑纹和白色的身影小心翼翼地走到草地上。 当她看到他时，高兴地喵了一声。 “Fireheart !”她跳到篱笆旁，跳到他身边，把脸颊贴在他的脸颊上。 “火心，好长时间没见了！” “很高兴见到你。”“我还带了一个人来。”火心告诉她。 “往下看。”公主隔着栅栏往外看，云爪正坐在地上，抬头看着她。 “火心！” “不可能是Cloudkit!”他长得好多了！”云爪不等他开口，就跳到篱笆顶上，爪子在光滑的木头上疯狂地乱抓。 火心俯下身来，咬紧牙关，想把他拉到最后几英尺远的地方，这样他就可以坐在篱笆上妈妈身边了。

Cloudpaw looked at Princess with wide blue eyes. "Are you really my mother?" he asked. "I really am," Princess purred, looking her son up and down admiringly. "Oh, it's so good to see you again, Cloudkit." "Actually, I'm not Cloudkit," the fluffy white tom announced proudly. "I'm Cloudpaw now. I'm an apprentice." "That's wonderful!" Princess began to cover her son with licks, purring so hard that she barely had breath enough for words. "Oh, you're so thin…do you get enough to eat? Have you made friends where you are? I hope you do what Fireheart tells you." Cloudpaw didn't try to answer the flood of questions. He wriggled out from his mother's caresses and edged away from her along the fence. "I'll be a warrior soon," he boasted. "Fireheart's teaching me to fight." Princess closed her eyes for a moment. "You will have to be so brave," she murmured. For a moment Fireheart thought she was regretting her decision to give her son to the Clan, but then she opened her eyes again and declared, "I'm so proud

云爪睁着大大的蓝眼睛看着公主。 “你真的是我妈妈吗？”他问。 “我是真的，”公主低声说，羡慕地上下打量着她的儿子。 “哦，很高兴再次见到你，Cloudkit。” “实际上，我不是云kit，”毛茸茸的白色汤姆自豪地宣布。 “我现在是云爪了。我是个学徒。” “那太好了!”公主开始舔她的儿子，呜呜地叫着，几乎喘不过气来。 “哦，你这么瘦……你吃饱了吗？” 你在哪里交了朋友吗？ 我希望你照火心的话去做。” 云爪没有试图回答潮水般涌来的问题。 他从母亲的爱抚中挣脱出来，沿着篱笆慢慢地离开了她。 “我很快就会成为一名战士，”他吹嘘道。 “火心在教我打架。” 公主闭了一会儿眼睛。 “你得勇敢一点，”她喃喃地说。 一时间，火心以为她在后悔把儿子交给氏族的决定，但随后她又睁开眼睛说：“我很骄傲

of both of you!" Cloudpaw sat even taller as he lapped up her attention. He twisted his head to groom himself with rapid strokes of his small pink tongue, and while he was distracted Fireheart whispered, "Princess, do you ever see any strange cats around here?" "Strange cats?" She looked puzzled, and Fireheart wondered if there was any point in asking the question. Princess wouldn't know rogues or loners from ordinary ThunderClan cats. Then Princess shivered. "Yes, I've heard them yowling in the night. My Twoleg gets up and shouts at them." "You haven't seen a big, dark tabby?" Fireheart asked, his heart starting to pound. "A tom with a scarred muzzle?" Princess shook her head, eyes wide. "I've only heard them, not seen them." "If you do see the dark tabby, stay away from him," Fireheart warned. He didn't know what Tigerclaw was up to so far from the camp, if it really was Tigerclaw, but he didn't want Princess going near the deputy, just in case.

你们两个！”云爪坐得更高了，舔着她的注意力。 他扭了扭脑袋，用粉红色的小舌头快速地舔了舔自己，趁他分神的时候，火心悄声说：“公主，你在这附近见过奇怪的猫吗？”“奇怪的猫?”她看起来很困惑，火心不知道问这个问题有没有意义。 公主根本分不清是盗贼还是孤独的人。 公主颤抖了一下。“是的，我听到过它们在夜里嚎叫。 我的特沃莱格站起来对他们大喊大叫。” “你没见过一只又大又黑的虎斑猫吗？”火心问道，他的心开始怦怦直跳。 “一只鼻子有疤痕的汤姆？”公主摇了摇头，眼睛睁得大大的。 “我只听到他们的声音，没有看到他们。” “如果你真的看到那只黑斑猫，离它远点。”火心警告道。 他不知道虎爪在离营地这么远的地方干什么，如果真的是虎爪的话，但他不想让公主靠近副警长，以防万一。

This made Princess look so scared that he changed the subject, encouraging Cloudpaw to describe his apprentice ceremony, and the expedition they had made around the borders. Soon she was happy again, exclaiming admiringly at everything her son told her. The sun was past its height when Fireheart meowed, "Cloudpaw, it's time we went home." Cloudpaw opened his mouth as if he was going to protest, but he remembered himself in time. "Yes, Fireheart," he mewed obediently. To Princess, he added, "Why don't you come with us? I'd catch mice for you, and you could sleep in my den." Princess let out a purr of amusement. "I almost wish I could," she replied honestly. "But really I'm happier as a kittypet. I don't want to learn to fight, or sleep outdoors in the cold. You'll just have to come and visit me again soon." "Yes, I will, I promise," Cloudpaw mewed. "I'll bring him," Fireheart meowed. "And Princess…" he added as he prepared to spring to the ground. "If you do see anything… odd around here, please tell me about it."

公主听了很害怕，于是他改变了话题，鼓励云爪描述他的学徒仪式，以及他们在边界附近的探险。 不久，她又高兴起来，对儿子告诉她的每件事都羡慕地惊叫起来。 太阳落山了，火心叫道：“云爪，我们该回家了。” 云爪张开嘴，好像要抗议，但他及时记起了自己。 “是的，火心。”他顺从地叫道。 他又对公主说：“你为什么不和我们一起去呢？ 我会帮你抓老鼠，你可以睡在我的窝里。” 公主发出一声高兴的咕噜声。 “我几乎希望我能，”她诚实地回答。 “但作为一只小猫，我真的更快乐。 我不想学打架，也不想在寒冷的户外睡觉。 你很快就会再来看我的。” “是的，我会的，我保证。”云爪叫道。 “我去把他带来。”火心叫道。 “公爵小姐……”他又说，准备跳下去。 “如果你在这附近看到什么奇怪的事情，请告诉我。”