Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 "Help! Don't let them take me!" Fireheart heard Cloudpaw's desperate yowling above the noise of the roaring monster. The Twoleg took no notice. It clambered into the monster with Cloudpaw and slammed the door shut. In a cloud of choking fumes, the monster pulled away and headed up the Thunderpath. "No! Wait!" Fireheart ignored Sandstorm's cry as he dashed out of the passageway and pelted after the monster. The rough stone path tore at his pads, but as fast as he ran, the monster went faster, until it rounded a corner and disappeared from view. Fireheart skidded to a halt, his paws stinging and his heart pounding. Sandstorm called to him again. "Fireheart! Come back!" Fireheart glanced in despair at the empty Thunderpath where the monster had stood just moments before and then hurried back to Sandstorm. Numb with shock, he blindly followed Sandstorm as she led him along the passageway, past the nest, through the garden, and over the

第十二章“救命！别让他们带走我！”火心听到了云爪绝望的嚎叫，盖过了咆哮的怪物的声音。 特沃莱格人没有理会。 它和云爪一起爬进了怪物的身体，砰地关上了门。 在一股令人窒息的烟雾中，怪物拉开了距离，朝着雷暴之路驶去。 “不!等等!”火心不顾沙暴的呼喊，冲出通道，向怪物扑去。 粗糙的石板路撕扯着他的脚垫，但他跑得越快，怪物就跑得越快，直到转过一个拐角，从他的视野中消失。 火心猛地停了下来，爪子刺痛，心怦怦直跳。 沙暴再次呼唤他。 “Fireheart !回来!”火心绝望地瞥了一眼怪物刚刚站过的空旷的雷道，然后匆匆返回沙暴。 他震惊得麻木了，盲目地跟着沙暴，她领着他沿着通道，经过鸟巢，穿过花园，越过了

fence into the safety of the woods. "Fireheart!" Sandstorm gasped when they landed on the leafy forest floor. "Are you okay?" Fireheart couldn't answer. He stared at the blank fence, trying to take in what he had just seen. The Twolegs had stolen Cloudpaw! Fireheart couldn't block out the look of fear on the young cat's face. Where were they taking him? Wherever it was, Cloudpaw hadn't wanted to go. "Your pads are bleeding," murmured Sandstorm. Fireheart lifted a foreleg and turned over his paw to look. He gazed blankly at the oozing blood until Sandstorm leaned forward and began to lick the grit from his wounds. It stung, but Fireheart didn't protest. The rhythmic licks comforted him, stirring long-distant memories of kithood. Gradually the panic that had frozen his mind began to melt away. "He's gone," he meowed dismally. His heart felt like a hollow log, ringing with sorrow at every beat. "He'll find his way home," Sandstorm told him. Fireheart looked at her calm green eyes and

把篱笆围进安全的树林里。 “Fireheart !”当他们降落在茂密的森林地面上时，沙暴倒抽了一口冷气。 “你还好吗？”火心无法回答。 他盯着空白的栅栏，试图领会他刚才看到的一切。 两条腿把云爪偷走了！火心无法掩饰那只小猫脸上恐惧的表情。 他们要把他带到哪里去？ 不管它在哪里，云爪都不想去。 “你的护垫在流血。”沙暴喃喃道。 火心抬起前腿，翻过爪子看了看。 他茫然地凝视着渗出的鲜血，直到沙暴俯下身来，开始舔舐他伤口上的沙砾。 这很刺痛，但火心没有抗议。 有节奏的舔舐抚慰了他，唤起了他长久以来的童年记忆。 渐渐地，冻结了他头脑的恐慌开始消失了。 “他走了。”他沮丧地叫道。 他的心就像一根空心的圆木，每跳动一次都在哀鸣。 “他会找到回家的路的。”沙暴告诉他。 火心看着她平静的绿眼睛，然后

felt a flicker of hope. "If he wants to," she added. Her words pierced him like thorns, but her eyes were full of sympathy, and Fireheart knew she was only speaking the truth. "Cloudpaw might be happier where he's going," she meowed. "You want him to be happy, don't you?" Fireheart nodded slowly. "Come on then; let's get back to camp." Sandstorm's mew became brisk, and Fireheart felt a surge of frustration. "It's easy for you!" he argued. "You share Clan blood with the rest of them. Cloudpaw was my only kin. Now there's no one in the Clan that's close to me." Sandstorm flinched as if he had struck her. "How can you say that? You have me!" she spat. "I've done nothing but try to help you. Doesn't that mean anything? I thought that our friendship was important to you, but clearly I was wrong!" She spun around, flicking Fireheart's legs with her tail before racing away into the trees. He watched her disappear, bewildered by her response. His paws stung, and he felt more

感到一丝希望。“如果他愿意的话，”她补充说。 她的话像刺一样刺痛了他，但她的眼睛里却充满了同情，火心知道她说的是实话。 “云爪要去的地方可能会更快乐。”她喵喵地说。 “你希望他幸福，是吗？”火心慢慢地点了点头。 “那就来吧；我们回营地去吧。” 沙暴的歌声变得轻快起来，火心感到一阵挫败。 “这对你来说很容易！”他争辩道。 “你和他们都有氏族的血统。 云爪是我唯一的亲人。现在氏族里没有人跟我亲近了。” 沙暴畏缩了一下，好像他击中了她。 “你怎么能这样说呢？”你有我！” “我什么也没做，只是想帮你。 这难道没有什么意义吗？ 我以为我们的友谊对你很重要，但显然我错了！”她转过身来，用尾巴甩了甩火心的腿，然后跑进了树林里。 他看着她消失，被她的回答弄糊涂了。 他的爪子刺痛了，他觉得更难受了

wretched than he could ever remember. He began to wander slowly through the woods, steering clear of Princess's fence. He couldn't even imagine how he would tell her what had happened to her kit. With every step, the thorn-sharp worry about what Fireheart was going to say to the rest of the Clan added to his misery. He imagined how Darkstripe would gloat when he discovered Fireheart's kin had gone back to the soft life of a kittypet. Once a kittypet, always a kittypet! Perhaps the jibe that had haunted Fireheart for so long had an element of truth in it after all. The scuttling of a mouse under the pine trees distracted him. The Clan still had to be fed. Fireheart crouched instinctively, but there was no joy in the hunt this time. He chased and caught the mouse with cold swiftness and carried it toward the camp. The sun was touching the tips of the trees when he reached the gorse tunnel. He paused and took a steadying breath before he walked into the clearing, the mouse swinging between his jaws. The Clan was sharing tongues around the

比他记忆中任何时候都悲惨。 他开始慢慢地穿过树林，避开公主的篱笆。 他甚至无法想象他该如何告诉她她的工具箱出了什么事。 每走一步，他都在担心火心会对氏族的其他成员说些什么，这更增加了他的痛苦。 他想象着，当黑条纹发现火心的亲戚又回到小猫的温柔生活时，他会多么幸灾乐祸。 一次是小猫，永远是小猫！也许长久以来萦绕在“火心”心头的那句嘲讽话，终究还是有几分道理的。 一只老鼠在松树下窜来窜去，分散了他的注意力。 氏族仍然需要食物。 火心本能地蹲了下来，但这次狩猎没有任何乐趣。 他飞快地追赶，抓住了那只老鼠，把它带到营地去了。 当他到达金雀花隧道时，太阳正照在树梢上。 他停了一下，深吸了一口气，然后走进空地，那只老鼠在他的嘴里荡来荡去。 氏族们在

clearing after their evening meal. Mousefur met him at the entrance and Fireheart wondered if she had been waiting for his return. "You've been gone a long time," she observed mildly. "Is everything okay?" Fireheart glanced awkwardly away. He felt he should share his news about Cloudpaw with Bluestar first. "Whitestorm organized the evening patrol in your absence," Mousefur went on. "Er…good…thanks," Fireheart stammered. Mousefur dipped her head politely and padded away. As Fireheart watched her go, he tried to tell himself that Cloudpaw's loss didn't mean he was alone in the Clan. Most of the cats seemed to accept him as deputy, despite the broken naming ritual. Fireheart just wished he could be sure that StarClan felt the same way, and his earlier fears clouded his mind like noisy fluttering crows. Was Cloudpaw's loss a sign that StarClan wanted to punish ThunderClan by depriving it of a potential warrior? Even worse, were the Clan's warrior ancestors signaling that kittypets didn't belong in

晚饭后清理。 鼠毛在入口处遇见了他，火心不知道她是不是一直在等他回来。 “你离开很久了，”她温和地说。 “一切都好吗？”火心尴尬地把目光移开。 他觉得应该先把Cloudpaw的消息告诉蓝星。 “你不在的时候，白风暴组织了夜间巡逻。”老鼠继续说。 “嗯……好……谢谢。”火心结结巴巴地说。 鼠毛礼貌地低下头，蹑手蹑脚地走开了。 火心看着她离去，他试图告诉自己，云爪的离去并不意味着他在氏族中孤身一人。 大多数猫似乎都接受他作为副手，尽管命名仪式已经中断。 火心只是希望他能确定星际部落也有同样的感觉，他之前的恐惧就像嘈杂的乌鸦一样笼罩着他的头脑。 Cloudpaw的失败是否意味着StarClan想要通过剥夺一个潜在的战士来惩罚ThunderClan ？ 更糟糕的是，氏族的战士祖先暗示小猫不属于氏族

the Clan? Fireheart felt as if his legs were about to give way under the weight of his anxiety. He dropped his offering on the pile of fresh-kill and looked around. Sandstorm was lying beside Runningwind, a sparrow in her paws. Fireheart flinched as the ginger she-cat cast him a reproachful glance. He knew he would have to apologize, but first he had to tell Bluestar about Cloudpaw. Fireheart crossed to the leader's den and called a greeting at the entrance. He was surprised when Whitestorm's voice answered. He poked his head through the lichen and saw Bluestar curled in her nest, her head up and eyes shining as she shared tongues with Whitestorm. For once the ThunderClan leader looked like any other warrior, enjoying the company of a trusted friend. And as he saw the contented expression on Bluestar's face, Fireheart shied away from disturbing her with his bad news. He'd tell her later. "Yes, what is it?" asked Bluestar. "I…I just wondered if you were hungry," Fireheart stammered. "Oh." Bluestar sounded puzzled. "Thank you,

家族?火心感到自己的腿快要被焦虑压垮了。 他把祭品扔在那堆刚宰杀的牲畜上，环顾四周。 沙暴躺在奔风身边，爪子里夹着一只麻雀。 红发母猫责备地瞥了他一眼，火心吓了一跳。 他知道他必须道歉，但首先他得告诉蓝星关于云爪的事。 火心走到首领的窝里，在门口打了个招呼。 听到怀特风暴的声音，他很吃惊。 他从地衣里探出头来，看见蓝星蜷缩在窝里，昂着头，眼睛闪闪发光，正与白风暴交谈。 这一次，雷霆氏族的首领看起来像其他战士一样，享受着一个值得信赖的朋友的陪伴。 当他看到蓝星脸上满意的表情时，火心避免用他的坏消息打扰她。 他稍后会告诉她的。“是的，什么事？”蓝星问道。 “我……我只是想你是不是饿了。”火心结结巴巴地说。 “哦。”蓝星听起来很困惑。 “谢谢你,