Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 "Cinderpelt! What are you doing here?" Fireheart spun around to face the medicine cat. "Did you know about this?" A pile of herbs lay between Cinderpelt's paws. She lifted her chin defiantly. "They needed my help. There was nothing for them in their camp but sickness." "So they came straight back!" Fireheart glared at her angrily. "Where did you find them?" "Near Sunningrocks. I smelled their sickness when I was out collecting herbs yesterday. They were looking for a safe place to hide," explained Cinderpelt. "And you brought them here." Fireheart snorted. "They probably only came back onto our land because they knew you'd take pity on them." Cinderpelt's concern for the ShadowClan cats had been obvious when they were in the ThunderClan camp. "Did you think you could treat them without any cat finding out?" Fireheart demanded. He couldn't believe that Cinderpelt had exposed herself—and the rest of the Clan—to such a risk. Cinderpelt met his eyes, undaunted. "Don't

第十一章“灰姑娘！你在这里做什么？”火心转过身来面对药猫。 “你知道这件事吗？”在灰姑娘的两爪之间放着一堆草药。 她挑衅地扬起下巴。 “他们需要我的帮助。他们的营地里除了疾病什么都没有。” “所以他们直接回来了！”火心生气地瞪着她。 “你在哪儿找到的？”“Sunningrocks附近。 我昨天出去采草药时闻到了他们的病。 他们在找一个安全的地方躲起来，”灰姑娘解释说。 “是你把他们带到这儿来的。” Fireheart哼了一声。“他们回到我们的土地上，可能只是因为他们知道你会同情他们。” 当影子氏族的猫在雷霆氏族营地时，灰姑娘对它们的关心就很明显了。 “你以为你可以在不被猫发现的情况下治疗它们吗？”Fireheart问道。 他不敢相信灰姑娘会让她自己和其他族人冒这样的风险。 灰姑娘迎着他的目光，毫不畏惧。 “别

pretend you're really angry with me. You felt just as sorry for them," she reminded him. "You couldn't have turned them away a second time either!" Fireheart could see that she believed she had done the right thing, and he had to admit the truth in her words—he couldn't deny he felt sorry for the sick cats, and had felt uncomfortable with Bluestar's lack of compassion. "Does Yellowfang know?" he asked, his anger fading. "No, I don't think so," answered Cinderpelt. "How sick are they?" "They're starting to recover." Cinderpelt allowed a hint of satisfaction to enter her voice. "I still smell sickness," Fireheart meowed suspiciously. "Well, they're not completely cured yet. But they will be." Littlecloud's voice rasped from the shadows behind him. "We're getting better, thanks to Cinderpelt." Fireheart could hear that Littlecloud's voice was already stronger than it had been in the ThunderClan camp, and the young warrior's eyes

假装你真的很生我的气。 你也同样为他们感到难过，”她提醒他。 “你也不可能第二次拒绝他们！”火心看得出她相信自己做的是对的，他不得不从她的话中承认事实——他无法否认他对生病的猫感到难过，并且对蓝星缺乏同情心感到不舒服。 “黄牙知道吗？”他问，怒气渐渐消了。 “不，我不这么认为，”灰姑娘回答说。 “他们病得有多严重？”“他们开始复苏了。” 灰姑娘的声音里流露出一丝满意。 “我还是闻到恶心的味道。”火心怀疑地叫道。 “嗯，它们还没有完全治愈。 但他们会的。”小云的声音从他身后的阴影里传来。 “多亏了灰姑娘，我们越来越好了。” 火心听得出小云的声音已经比在雷族营地里的时候更强了，还有年轻战士的眼睛

shone brightly in the gloom. "They do sound better," he admitted, turning back to the young medicine cat. "How did you do it? Yellowfang seemed to think this sickness was deadly." "I must have found the right combination of herbs and berries," Cinderpelt replied happily. Fireheart noticed she spoke with a confidence he'd not heard in her for a while, and he recognized the spirit of the lively, strong-willed apprentice he had once trained. "Well done!" he meowed. He thought instinctively of how Bluestar would relish the news that a ThunderClan cat might have found a cure for ShadowClan's strange sickness. But then he remembered that Bluestar was not the leader she had once been. It wouldn't be safe to tell her that Cinderpelt had been hiding ShadowClan cats in ThunderClan territory. Her judgment had been clouded by her obsession with the threat of attack. Fireheart realized that as long as the ShadowClan cats remained here, they were in danger. He was afraid Bluestar would order them to be killed at once if she found out they were still on ThunderClan territory. "I'm sorry, Cinderpelt."

在黑暗中闪闪发光。 “它们听起来确实好多了，”他承认道，又转向那只年轻的药猫。 “你是怎么做到的？”黄牙似乎认为这种病是致命的。” “我一定是找到了草药和浆果的正确组合，”灰姑娘高兴地回答。 火心注意到她说话时的自信是他很久没有听到过的，他认出了这位他曾经训练过的活泼、意志坚强的学徒的精神。 “干得好！”他叫道。他本能地想到，蓝星听到雷族的猫可能找到了治疗影族怪病的方法，会多么高兴。 但他又想起，蓝星已不再是昔日的领导者。 告诉她灰姑娘把影子家族的猫藏在雷霆家族的地盘里是不安全的。 她对攻击的威胁念念不忘，影响了她的判断力。 火心意识到，只要影子家族的猫留在这里，他们就有危险。 他担心如果蓝星发现他们还在雷霆部落的地盘上，她会立刻下令杀死他们。 “对不起，灰姑娘。”

He shook his head. "These cats must leave. It's not safe for them here." Cinderpelt flicked her tail in frustration. "They're too ill to return to their own camp yet. I might be able to heal them, but I'm no good as a hunter. They haven't eaten properly for days." "I'll catch them something now," Fireheart offered. "It should give them enough strength to travel home." "But what about when we get back?" Whitethroat rasped from the shadows. Fireheart couldn't answer that, but he couldn't risk their sickness finding its way into the ThunderClan camp. What if a ShadowClan patrol came into ThunderClan territory looking for their missing warriors? "I'll feed you; then you must go," he repeated. Littlecloud's voice was hoarse and high- pitched as he pushed himself to a sitting position, his paws scrabbling on the hard earth. "Please don't send us back! Nightstar is so weak. It's as if the sickness takes a new life from him each day. Most of the Clan thinks he's going to die." Fireheart frowned. "Surely he has plenty of

他摇了摇头。“这些猫必须离开。 他们在这里不安全。” 灰姑娘沮丧地摇了摇尾巴。 “他们病得太重了，还不能回到自己的营地。 我也许能治愈他们，但我不是个好猎手。 他们已经好几天没好好吃饭了。” “我现在给他们抓点东西。”火心提议道。 “这应该给他们足够的力量回家。” “但我们回来的时候怎么办？”白喉从阴影中呼啸而出。 火心无法回答这个问题，但他不能冒险让他们的疾病进入雷霆部落的营地。 如果暗影族巡逻队进入雷霆族领地寻找他们失踪的战士怎么办？ “我来喂你；那么你必须走了。”他重复道。 小云的声音沙哑而尖利，他勉强坐了下来，爪子在坚硬的地面上抓来抓去。 “请不要送我们回去！”夜星太弱了。 就好像疾病每天夺走他一个新的生命。 氏族的大多数人都认为他会死。” Fireheart皱起了眉头。“他肯定有很多

lives left." "You haven't seen how ill he is!" cried Whitethroat. "The Clan is scared. There's no cat ready to take his place." "What about Cinderfur, your deputy?" asked Fireheart. The two ShadowClan cats looked away and didn't answer. Did that mean that Cinderfur had died already, or that he was just too old to become a leader? Like Nightstar, Cinderfur had been an elder when Brokentail had been driven out. Fireheart felt his sympathy winning in spite of his better judgment. "Okay." He sighed reluctantly. "You can stay here until you're strong enough to travel." "Thank you, Fireheart," Littlecloud meowed wheezily. His eyes glittered with gratitude. Fireheart dipped his head, realizing how hard it must be for these proud ShadowClan warriors to admit they were dependent on another Clan. He turned away and padded past Cinderpelt. She whispered as he passed, "Thanks, Fireheart. I knew you would understand why I took them in." Her eyes brimmed with compassion. "I couldn't let them die. Even…even if they were from

生活离开了。”“你还没看到他病得多厉害呢！”白喉叫道。 “氏族害怕了。没有猫能代替他的位置。” “那你的副手灰姑娘呢？”火心问道。 两只影子家族的猫把目光移开，没有回答。 这是说灰姑娘已经死了，还是说他太老了，不能当领袖了？ 和夜星一样，布罗肯泰尔被赶出去的时候，灰姑娘已经长大了。 火心觉得他的同情赢得了胜利，尽管他有更好的判断力。 “好吧。”他不情愿地叹了口气。 “你可以呆在这里，直到你有足够的力量去旅行。” “谢谢你，火心。”小云儿气喘吁吁地叫道。 他的眼睛里闪烁着感激之情。 火心低下头，意识到要让这些骄傲的影族战士承认他们依赖于另一个氏族是多么困难。 他转过身去，从灰姑娘身边走过。 他走过时，她小声说：“谢谢你，火心。 我知道你会理解我为什么收留他们。” 她的眼睛里充满了同情。 “我不能让他们死。即使…即使他们来自

another Clan." And Fireheart knew she was thinking of Silverstream, the RiverClan queen she had not been able to save. He licked her ear affectionately. "You are a true medicine cat," he purred. "That's why Yellowfang chose you as her apprentice." It didn't take Fireheart long to catch a thrush and a rabbit for the ShadowClan cats. This part of the forest was rich in prey. He was careful not to stray across the RiverClan border, although it was tempting—the scent of prey was strong from there, and it had been a long time since Fireheart had tasted water vole. But he was pleased with the juicy rabbit he found beside Sunningrocks, and the thrush was an easy catch, too busy cracking open a snail to hear his stealthy approach. Cinderpelt was crouched beside the ancient oak when he returned, chewing berries and spitting the pulp into her herb mixture. Fireheart nudged the fresh-kill into the root cave, but he didn't enter. The stench of sickness made him wary of going inside. He looked at Cinderpelt as she worked, feeling

另一个家族。”火心知道她指的是银溪，那个她没能救下的河族女王。 他深情地舔着她的耳朵。 “你是一只真正的药用猫，”他咕噜着。 “所以黄牙才选你做她的徒弟。” 火心很快就为影子家族的猫抓到了一只画眉和一只兔子。 森林的这一部分有丰富的猎物。 他小心翼翼地避免越过河族的边界，尽管那里很诱人——猎物的气味很浓，而且火心已经很久没尝过水田鼠的味道了。 不过，他对在桑宁岩石旁发现的那只多汁的兔子很满意，画眉很容易抓到，因为它忙着敲开一只蜗牛，根本没听见他悄悄靠近。 当他回来的时候，灰姑娘正蹲在那棵古老的橡树旁边，嚼着浆果，把果肉吐在她的草药混合物里。 火心把刚杀的人推到根洞里，但他没有进去。 疾病的恶臭使他不敢进去。 他看着正在干活的灰姑娘，感觉