Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 Fireheart crouched in the nursery, watching a litter of kits suckling their mother. For a moment he was filled with excitement to see the tiny creatures who were the future of the Clan. Then something stirred in his mind. ThunderClan had no kits as young as these. Where had they come from? He let his gaze travel from the kits to their mother, and saw nothing but a rippling pelt of silver-gray. The queen had no face. Fireheart choked back a cry of horror. As he stared, the silvery shape of the queen began to fade, leaving nothing but darkness. The kits squirmed and let out squeals of terror and loss. A bitterly cold wind rose and swept away the warm scents of the nursery. Fireheart leaped to his paws and tried to follow the sound of the helpless kits, lost in the windblown darkness. "I can't find you!" he wailed. "Where are you?" Then a light appeared, soft and golden. Fireheart could see another cat sitting in front of him with the tiny kits sheltered between her paws. It was Spottedleaf.

第八章火心蹲在育儿室里，看着一窝幼崽给它们的妈妈喂奶。 有那么一刻，他满心兴奋地看着这些小生物，它们是氏族的未来。 然后，他的脑海里出现了一些东西。 ThunderClan没有这么年轻的套件。 它们是从哪里来的？他把目光从幼崽身上移到它们的母亲身上，除了一层银灰色的皮毛外，什么也没看到。 王后没有脸面。火心强忍住恐惧的叫喊。 当他凝视时，女王的银色轮廓开始消失，只剩下一片黑暗。 幼崽们扭动着身体，发出恐惧和失落的尖叫声。 一阵刺骨的寒风吹起，把育儿室里的温暖气息一扫而光。 火心跳了起来，试图跟着迷失在风吹的黑暗中的无助的幼崽的声音走。 “我找不到你！” “你在哪儿？”这时，一道柔和的金色亮光出现了。 火心看见另一只猫坐在他前面，两只爪子夹着两只小猫。 是斑点叶。

Fireheart opened his mouth to speak to her. She gave him a look of infinite kindness before the image vanished, and Fireheart found himself scrabbling among the mossy bedding in the warriors' den. "Do you have to make so much racket?" Dustpelt was grumbling. "No cat can get a wink of sleep." Fireheart sat up. "Sorry," he mumbled. He couldn't help glancing toward the center of the den, where Tigerclaw slept. The deputy had complained before about the noise Fireheart made when he was dreaming. To his relief, Tigerclaw wasn't there. Fireheart could see from the light that filtered through the branches that the sun was already above the trees. He gave himself a quick wash, trying to hide from Dustpelt how much the dream had shaken him. Frightened, lonely kits…kits whose mother faded away. Was it a prophecy? And if so, what could it mean? There were no kits that young in the Clan now. Or was it about the former ThunderClan kits—Mistyfoot and Stonefur? Had their real mother disappeared somehow?

火心张开嘴想跟她说话。 她无限亲切地看了他一眼，然后那个影像消失了，火心发现自己正在战士洞穴里的苔藓铺盖中摸索。 “你非得这么吵吗？”Dustpelt在抱怨。 “没有一只猫能合眼睡觉。” 火心坐了起来。“对不起。”他咕哝着。 他忍不住朝洞穴中央瞥了一眼，虎爪就睡在那里。 警官以前曾抱怨过火心做梦时发出的噪音。 让他松了一口气的是，虎爪不在那里。 透过树枝透进来的光线，火心看到太阳已经升到树的上方了。 他迅速地把自己洗了一遍，竭力不让达斯特尔知道，这个梦使他受到了多大的震动。 害怕，孤独的小企鹅，妈妈消失的小企鹅。 是预言吗？如果是这样，这意味着什么？ 现在氏族里没有那么年轻的套件了。 或者是关于之前的ThunderClan套件——mistyfoot和Stonefur？ 难道他们的亲生母亲不知怎么失踪了？

While he was washing, Dustpelt gave him a final glare and pushed his way out through the branches, leaving Fireheart alone except for Longtail and Runningwind, sleeping in their usual places. There was no sign of Graystripe, Fireheart noticed, and his bedding was cold, as if he had been out since dawn. Gone to meet Silverstream, he guessed. He tried to understand his friend's strength of feeling, but he couldn't help worrying, and longing for the old uncomplicated days when they were apprentices together. Fireheart poked his head out of the branches to see the snow- covered camp glittering under the cold winter sun. No sign of a thaw yet. Beside the nettle patch, Sandstorm was crouching over a piece of fresh-kill. "Good morning, Fireheart," she greeted him cheerfully. "If you want to eat, you'd better do it quickly, while there's still some prey left." Fireheart realized that his belly was aching with hunger. It felt as if he hadn't eaten for a moon. He bounded over to the pile of fresh-kill and saw that Sandstorm was right. Only a few

在他洗衣服的时候，灰尘鬼最后看了他一眼，从树枝间钻了出来，留下火心一个人，只有长尾巴和奔风在他们平常的地方睡觉。 火心注意到，没有灰条的影子，他的被褥也很冷，好像他从黎明就出去了。 他猜是去见银溪了。 他试图理解朋友强烈的感情，但他还是忍不住担心，怀念他们一起当学徒的简单日子。 火心从树枝里探出头来，看到白雪覆盖的营地在寒冷的冬日阳光下闪闪发光。 还没有解冻的迹象。在荨麻地旁边，沙暴正蹲伏在一块刚宰杀的猎物上。 “早上好，火心。”她高兴地跟他打招呼。 “如果你想吃东西，最好快点，趁还有猎物。” 火心意识到他饿得肚子疼。 他感觉好像有一个月没吃东西了。 他跳到那堆刚宰杀的猎物跟前，发现沙暴是对的。 只有几个

pieces remained. He chose a starling and took it back to the nettle patch to eat with Sandstorm. "We'll have to hunt today," he meowed between mouthfuls. "Whitestorm and Mousefur have already gone out with their new apprentices," Sandstorm told him. "Brightpaw and Thornpaw couldn't wait!" Fireheart wondered if Graystripe had taken his apprentice out, too, but a moment later Brackenpaw emerged alone from the apprentices' den. The light brown tabby looked around before trotting over to Fireheart. "Have you seen Graystripe?" he called. "Sorry." Fireheart shrugged. "He was gone when I woke up." "He's never here," Brackenpaw mewed sadly. "If this goes on, Swiftpaw will be a warrior before me—Brightpaw and Thornpaw too." "Rubbish," Fireheart meowed. He suddenly felt angry with Graystripe and his obsession with the RiverClan she-cat. No warrior had the right to neglect his apprentice like this. "You're doing fine, Brackenpaw. You can come out hunting with me, if you like."

件依然存在。他挑了一只八哥，把它带回荨麻地和沙暴一起吃。 “我们今天得去打猎。”他一边吃一边叫道。 “白风暴和鼠毛已经带着他们的新徒弟出去了。”沙暴告诉他。 “亮爪子和刺爪子等不及了！”火心不知道灰条纹是不是也把他的学徒带出去了，但不一会儿，爪子就一个人从学徒的窝里出来了。 淡棕色的虎斑猫环顾四周，然后小跑着走向火心。 “你看到格雷stripe了吗？”他喊道。 “对不起。”Fireheart耸耸肩。 “我醒来时他已经走了。” “他从来没来过这里。”爪子悲伤地叫道。 “如果这样下去，Swiftpaw就会比我先成为勇士了——亮爪和刺爪也一样。” “胡说。”火心叫道。 他突然对灰条和他对河族母猫的痴迷感到愤怒。 没有一个战士有权利这样忽视他的徒弟。 “你做得很好，爪子。 如果你愿意，你可以和我一起出去打猎。”

"Thanks," purred Brackenpaw, beginning to look happier. "I'll come too," offered Sandstorm, gulping down the last of her meal and running her tongue around her jaws. She took the lead as the three cats made their way along the gorse tunnel. "Now, Brackenpaw," Fireheart meowed when they had reached the edge of the training hollow. "Where's a good place to look for prey?" "Under the trees," replied Brackenpaw, pointing with a flick of his tail. "That's where mice and squirrels come for nuts and seeds." "Good," meowed Fireheart. "Let's see if you're right." They headed farther around the hollow; on the way they passed Brindleface, watching fondly as her kits scrambled about in the snow. "They needed to stretch their legs," she explained. "All this snow has made them restless." Cloudkit was sitting under the yew bush with a couple of his littermates, explaining importantly that those were deathberries, and they must never, never eat them. Feeling amused by the young kit's seriousness, Fireheart meowed a

“谢谢。”爪子咕噜着，开始显得高兴起来。 “我也去。”沙暴提议道，她咽下最后一点食物，用舌头舔了舔下颚。 当三只猫沿着金雀花隧道前进时，她走在前面。 “好了，爪子。”他们走到训练场地的边缘时，火心叫道。 “哪里是寻找猎物的好地方？”“在树下。”爪子回答，甩了甩尾巴，指了指。 “那是老鼠和松鼠来找坚果和种子的地方。” “很好。”火心叫道。“让我们看看你说得对不对。” 他们绕着山谷继续往前走；在路上，他们经过了Brindleface，她深情地看着她的孩子在雪地里爬来爬去。 “他们需要伸展一下腿，”她解释说。 “这么大的雪让他们焦躁不安。” Cloudkit和他的几个同伴坐在紫杉树丛下，重要地解释说，那些是死莓，他们绝对不能吃。 火心被小kit的严肃逗乐了，喵喵地叫了一声

greeting as he went by. Beneath the trees at the top of the hollow the snow was not so thick, and streaks of brown earth showed amid the white. As the three cats crept forward, Fireheart heard the scuttering of tiny paws, and scented mouse. Automatically he dropped into a hunting crouch and slid forward, barely putting any weight on his paws so as not to alarm his prey. The mouse remained unaware of the danger, its back to him as it nibbled on a fallen seed. When Fireheart was a tail-length away, he sprang, and turned back triumphantly to his friends with the prey in his jaws. "Good catch," called Sandstorm. Fireheart scraped earth over his kill so he could collect it later. "The next one's yours, Brackenpaw," he meowed. Brackenpaw raised his head proudly and began to stalk forward, his eyes darting from side to side. Fireheart spotted a blackbird pecking among the berries at the foot of a holly bush, but this time he held back. The apprentice noticed the bird almost as soon as Fireheart did. Stealthily, paw by paw, he crept

他走过时向他打招呼。在山谷顶端的树下，雪没有那么厚，在白色中露出一条条棕色的泥土。 当三只猫蹑手蹑脚地向前爬时，火心听到了小爪子和香味老鼠的奔跑声。 它自动地蹲下狩猎的姿势，向前滑去，爪子上几乎没有任何重量，以免惊动猎物。 那只老鼠没有意识到危险，背对着他啃着一颗掉落的种子。 当火心离他只有尾巴那么远的时候，他跳了起来，得意洋洋地转身向他的朋友们扑去，嘴里叼着猎物。 “抓得好，”沙暴说。 火心在他的猎物上刮土，以便稍后收集。 “下一个是你的，爪子。”他喵喵叫道。 爪子骄傲地抬起头，开始大步向前走，眼睛左顾右望。 火心发现了一只黑鹂在冬青树脚下的浆果中啄食，但这次他退缩了。 学徒几乎和火心同时注意到了这只鸟。 他蹑手蹑脚地一步一步地爬着