Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30 "Well, Clan deputy," Whitestorm meowed softly in his ear. "What would you like me to do now?" Fireheart realized his offer was genuine, and he flashed the great white warrior a grateful glance. He knew Whitestorm could have expected to become deputy himself, and his support would be valuable to Fireheart in the days to come. "Yes… now…" he began, frantically trying to think what the most urgent priorities would be. With a jolt, he realized that he was trying to imagine what Tigerclaw would have done. "Food. We all need to eat. Cloudpaw, start taking fresh-kill to the elders. Get the other apprentices to help the queens in the nursery." Cloudpaw shot off with a flick of his tail. "Mousefur, Darkstripe, find yourselves two or three warriors each and go out on a hunting patrol. Split the territory between you. We'll need more fresh-kill right away. And keep a lookout for those rogues or Tigerclaw while you're at it." Mousefur moved away with a calm nod, collecting Brackenfur and Willowpelt as she went. But Darkstripe glared at Fireheart for so long that

“好吧，氏族代表。”白风暴在他耳边轻声叫道。 “你现在想让我做什么？”火心意识到他的提议是真诚的，他感激地瞥了这位伟大的白人战士一眼。 他知道白风暴本可以成为副手，而他的支持在未来的日子里对火心来说是很有价值的。 “是的……现在……”他开始说，疯狂地思考着最紧迫的事情是什么。 他猛然意识到自己是在努力想象虎爪会做什么。 “食物。我们都需要吃饭。 云爪，把新鲜的猎物带给长老们。 叫其他的学徒到育婴室去帮助王后。” 云爪甩了甩尾巴就跑了。 “鼠毛，黑条，每人找两三个勇士，出去巡逻打猎。 把地盘分给你们。 我们马上需要更多的新鲜猎物。 你去的时候要注意那些流氓和虎爪。” 鼠毛平静地点点头走开了，一边走一边把布兰克弗和威洛佩尔收了起来。 但暗条纹盯着火心看了太久

Fireheart began to wonder what he would do if the dark warrior really refused to obey him. He met the pale blue gaze steadily, and at last Darkstripe turned away, meowing to Longtail and Dustpelt to follow him. "All Tigerclaw's sympathizers," Whitestorm observed as he watched them go. "You'll need to keep an eye on them." "Yes, I know," Fireheart admitted. "But surely they've shown that they're more loyal to the Clan than to Tigerclaw? I hope they'll accept me if I don't tread on their tails." Whitestorm gave a noncommittal grunt. "Anything for me to do?" asked Graystripe. "Yes." Fireheart gave his friend's ear a quick, friendly lick. "Go back to your nest and rest. You were badly wounded yesterday. I'll bring you a piece of fresh-kill." "Oh, okay. Thanks, Fireheart." Graystripe returned the lick and vanished into the den. Fireheart padded over to the pile of fresh-kill, where he found Cinderpaw clawing a magpie out of the dwindling heap. "I'll take this to Bluestar," she offered. "I need to check her wound. And

火心开始思考，如果黑暗战士真的拒绝服从他，他该怎么办。 他目不转睛地盯着那淡蓝色的目光，最后黑条纹转过身去，喵喵叫着让长尾巴和灰尘皮跟着他。 “都是虎爪的同情者。”白风暴看着他们离去，说道。 “你得盯着他们。” “是的，我知道。”火心承认。 “但他们肯定已经表明，他们对氏族比对虎爪更忠诚吧？” 如果我不踩到它们的尾巴，我希望它们能接受我。” 怀特斯托姆含糊地哼了一声。 “有什么需要我做的吗？” “是的。”火心友好地迅速舔了一下他朋友的耳朵。 “回你的窝去休息吧。 你昨天受了重伤。 我给你拿一块新鲜的肉来。” “哦,好的。谢谢,Fireheart。” 灰条舔了舔，然后消失在洞里。 火心蹑手蹑脚地走到那堆刚宰杀的猎物跟前，发现灰爪正在从那堆越来越少的猎物中抓一只喜鹊。 “我要把这个拿给蓝星，”她提议道。 “我需要检查她的伤口。 和

then I'll take some prey for Yellowfang." "Good idea," Fireheart meowed, beginning to feel more confident as his rapid orders seemed to be restoring things to normal. "Tell her if she needs any help to collect herbs, she can have Cloudpaw, once he's seen to the elders." "Okay." Cinderpaw chuckled. "You certainly know how to make your apprentices work, Fireheart." She bit down into the magpie and dropped it at once with a retch of disgust. The flesh of the dead bird fell away from the bones to reveal a writhing mass of white maggots. A foul stench hit Fireheart and he winced. Cinderpaw backed away, passing her tongue around her mouth over and over again as she stared at the rotting carcass. Her dark gray fur was fluffed up and her blue eyes wide. "Crowfood," she whispered. "Crowfood among the fresh-kill. What does it mean?" Fireheart couldn't imagine how the rotten magpie had gotten there. No cat would have brought it in; even the youngest apprentice knew better than that. "What does it mean?" Cinderpaw repeated.

那我就去给黄牙抓点猎物。” “好主意。”火心喵喵地叫道，当他的快速命令似乎使一切恢复正常时，他开始感到更有信心了。 “告诉她，如果她需要帮忙采集草药，等云爪去见长老后，就交给她。” “好吧。”Cinderpaw咯咯地笑了。 “你当然知道怎么让你的徒弟干活，火心。” 她把喜鹊咬了一口，立刻把它扔在地上，恶心得作呕。 那只死鸟的肉从骨头上脱落下来，露出一团翻腾的白色蛆虫。 一股恶臭扑面而来，火心畏缩了一下。 灰姑娘往后退，舌头绕着嘴巴转了一圈又一圈，她盯着腐烂的尸体。 她深灰色的皮毛蓬松起来，蓝色的眼睛睁得大大的。 “乌鸦食。”她低声说。 “在新鲜的猎物中觅食。 这是什么意思？”火心无法想象这只腐烂的喜鹊是怎么到那里去的。 没有猫会把它带进来；即使是最年轻的学徒也知道这一点。 “这是什么意思？”Cinderpaw重复。

Fireheart suddenly realized she wasn't thinking about any practical reasons for how maggot- ridden prey had ended up in the pile. "Do you think it's an omen?" he croaked. "A message from StarClan?" "It might be." Cinderpaw shivered, and stared at him with huge blue eyes. "StarClan haven't spoken to me yet, Fireheart, not since the ceremony at the Moonstone. I don't know if it's an omen or not, but if it is…" "It must be for Bluestar," Fireheart finished. His fur prickled as he realized this was the first sign of Cinderpaw's new powers as an apprentice medicine cat. "You were going to take the magpie to her." He felt a thrill of horror at the thought of what the omen might mean. Was StarClan trying to say that Bluestar's leadership was rotting away from the inside, even though Tigerclaw's outer threat had gone? "No," he meowed firmly. "That can't be right. Bluestar's problems are over. Some cat's been careless, that's all, and brought crowfood back by mistake." But he didn't believe his own words, and he could tell that Cinderpaw didn't, either. "I'll ask

火心突然意识到，她并没有考虑任何实际的原因，为什么满是蛆的猎物最后会出现在那堆东西里。 “你认为这是个预兆吗？”他嘶哑地问。 “来自StarClan的消息？”“可能是吧。” 灰姑娘的爪子颤抖着，用大大的蓝眼睛盯着他。 “星族还没有跟我说过话，火心，自从月光石的仪式之后就没有了。 我不知道这是不是预兆，但如果是……”“一定是蓝星的预兆。” 当他意识到这是作为一只行医猫学徒的灰姑娘的新能力的第一个迹象时，他的毛刺痛了。 “你要把喜鹊带给她。” 想到这个预兆可能意味着什么，他感到一阵恐怖的震颤。 StarClan是想说蓝星的领导层已经从内部腐烂了，而虎爪的外部威胁已经消失了吗？ “不，”他坚定地喵了一声。“这不可能是对的。 蓝星的问题已经解决了。 大概是哪只猫不小心把乌鸦的食物带回来了。” 但是他不相信自己说的话，而且他可以看出灰姑娘也不相信。 “我会问

Yellowfang," she mewed, shaking her head in bewilderment. "She'll know." Cinderpaw quickly snatched a vole from the heap and began limping rapidly across the clearing. Fireheart called after her, "Don't tell any cat except Yellowfang. The Clan mustn't know. I'll bury this." She flicked her tail to show she had heard, and vanished among the ferns. Fireheart glanced around to make sure that no other cat had overheard their conversation, or seen the decaying magpie. Bile rose in his throat as he gripped the bird by the tip of one wing and dragged it to the edge of the clearing. He didn't begin to relax until he had scraped up enough earth to cover the vile thing. Even then, he could not get it out of his mind. If the rotting, maggot-filled crowfood was indeed an omen, what new disasters did StarClan have in store for ThunderClan and their leader now? By sunhigh, the Clan had settled down again. The hunting patrols had returned, all the cats were full-fed, and Fireheart was beginning to

黄牙。”她叫道，困惑地摇着头。 “她会知道。”Cinderpaw迅速从堆里抓了一只田鼠，开始一瘸一拐地快速穿过空地。 火心在她身后叫道：“除了黄牙，别告诉别的猫。 不能让氏族知道。我要把它埋了。” 她摇了摇尾巴，表示听见了，然后消失在蕨类植物中。 火心环顾四周，确保没有别的猫听到他们的谈话，也没有看到那只腐烂的喜鹊。 当他抓住那只鸟的一只翅膀尖，把它拖到空地的边缘时，胆汁涌上喉咙。 直到他挖了足够多的土盖住那可恶的东西，他才开始放松下来。 即使这样，他也无法把它从脑海中抹去。 如果腐烂的，满是蛆虫的乌鸦食物确实是一个预兆，那么现在StarClan为ThunderClan和他们的领袖准备了什么新的灾难呢？ 太阳出来的时候，氏族又安顿下来了。 狩猎巡逻队回来了，所有的猫都吃饱了，火心也开始吃饱了

think it was time he went to Bluestar's den to see if she would talk to him about leading the Clan. He was distracted by movement in the gorse tunnel. Four RiverClan cats appeared, the same four who had joined in the battle the day before: Leopardfur, Mistyfoot, Stonefur, and Blackclaw. Leopardfur bore a newly healed wound across one dappled shoulder, and Blackclaw's ear was torn at the tip, proof of how they had fought with ThunderClan to drive out the rogue cats. Fireheart wished he could believe that they had come only to find out if the ThunderClan warriors were all right. But deep down he knew their mission had to do with Graystripe's kits. Struggling to hide the heaviness in his heart, he padded across the clearing and dipped his head to Leopardfur—not the respectful signal from a warrior to a deputy, but a courteous greeting between equals. "Greetings," meowed Leopardfur, her eyes registering surprise at Fireheart's new attitude. "We need to speak to your leader." Fireheart hesitated, wondering how much to explain. It would take the rest of the day to tell

我想他是时候去蓝星的巢穴看看她是否愿意和他谈谈领导氏族的事了。 金雀花隧道里的动静分散了他的注意力。 四只河族的猫出现了，就是前一天参加战斗的那四只：豹毛、雾脚、石毛和黑爪。 豹皮斑驳的肩膀上有一道新愈合的伤口，黑爪的耳朵尖被撕裂了，这都证明了他们是如何与雷霆氏族作战，赶走了那些流浪猫的。 火心希望他能相信他们只是来看看雷霆族的战士们是否安好。 但在内心深处，他知道他们的任务与格雷斯特的装备有关。 他挣扎着掩饰内心的沉重，蹑手蹑脚地走过空地，向利奥帕德福低下头——这不是战士对副手的恭敬的手势，而是平等之间的礼貌问候。 “你好。”豹皮喵喵地叫道，她的眼睛里流露出对火心新态度的惊讶。 “我们需要和你们的领袖谈谈。” 火心犹豫了一下，不知道该解释多少。 要过一整天才能知道