Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 "Is Cloudpaw okay?" asked Ashpaw. Fireheart blinked while he searched for the right words to explain Cloudpaw's disappearance. "I believe Cloudpaw has left the Clan," he murmured at last. There was no point trying to hide what had happened. Ashpaw's eyes grew wide with shock and bewilderment. "L-left?" he echoed. "But he…he would have told us. I mean, I never thought he'd stay there!" "Stay where?" asked Runningwind sharply, sitting up. "What's going on?" Ashpaw glanced guiltily at Fireheart, knowing he had betrayed his friend's secret. "Go back to your supper," Fireheart meowed gently. "You can tell Darkstripe that Cloudpaw has returned to his kittypet life. There's no need for secrets anymore." "I just can't believe he's actually left," mewed Ashpaw sadly. "I'll really miss him." He turned and plodded back to the apprentices' den, where Darkstripe sat waiting like a hungry owl. The news would be all through the camp by sunset.

第十三章“云爪没事吧？”阿什爪问。 火心眨了眨眼睛，想找个合适的词来解释云爪的消失。 “我相信云爪已经离开氏族了。”他终于喃喃地说。 试图隐瞒所发生的事情是没有意义的。 阿什帕因震惊和困惑而瞪大了眼睛。 “左左？”他重复道。“但是他……他会告诉我们的。 我是说，我从没想过他会呆在那里！”“呆在哪儿？”流风厉声问道，坐了起来。 “发生什么事了？”阿什帕内疚地瞥了火心一眼，他知道自己泄露了朋友的秘密。 “回去吃晚饭吧。”火心温柔地叫道。 “你可以告诉暗条，云爪已经恢复了它的小猫生活。 再也不需要秘密了。” “我真不敢相信他真的走了。”阿什帕悲伤地叫道。 “我会很想念他的。”他转过身，慢吞吞地走回学徒窝，黑条纹像一只饥饿的猫头鹰一样坐在那里等着。 日落之前，消息就会传遍整个营地。

"Where has Cloudpaw gone?" demanded Runningwind, turning to Fireheart. "He's gone back to live with Twolegs," Fireheart replied, each word dropping like a stone into the sultry forest air. His ears still rang with Cloudpaw's heartbreaking cries for help, but Fireheart couldn't see that it would do any good to start making excuses for his errant apprentice. How could he convince the Clan that Cloudpaw had been taken against his will, when they would all remember that the apprentice had been growing fat from Twoleg offerings? Runningwind frowned. "Darkstripe is going to enjoy hearing that." The tabby warrior was already staring triumphantly across the clearing as he leaned down to listen to Ashpaw's news. With a sinking feeling Fireheart watched as he trotted over to Longtail and Smallear, and the news of Cloudpaw's disappearance began to spread through the Clan like tendrils of dark, clinging ivy. Smallear squeezed between the branches of the oak to share the news with the other elders, while Longtail nodded at his former mentor and headed

“云爪去哪儿了？”奔风转向火心问道。 “他回去和特立格住在一起了。”火心回答，每句话都像石头一样落进森林里闷热的空气里。 他的耳朵里仍然回荡着云爪令人心碎的呼救声，但火心不明白，为他的徒弟找借口会有什么好处。 他怎么能让氏族相信，云爪是违背他的意愿被带走的呢？他们都记得，这个学徒是靠吃特沃莱格的祭品长大的。 Runningwind皱起了眉头。“Darkstripe会很高兴听到这些的。” 虎斑猫战士俯身听阿什帕的消息时，已经得意洋洋地盯着空地那边。 火心怀着一种不祥的心情看着他小跑着走向长尾巴和小不点，云爪失踪的消息开始在氏族中传播开来，就像黑色的爬山虎的卷须一样。 小矮人挤在橡树的树枝之间，和其他长老分享这个消息，而长尾则向他以前的导师点了点头，走了

toward the nursery. Just as Fireheart had feared, Darkstripe was making sure the whole camp knew that Fireheart's kin had returned to his kittypet roots. "Aren't you going to do anything?" asked Sandstorm, her voice sharp with indignation. "Are you going to leave it to Darkstripe to tell the Clan about Cloudpaw?" Fireheart shook his head. "How can I fight the truth?" he meowed sadly. "You could speak to the Clan!" snapped Sandstorm. "Explain what really happened." "Cloudpaw rejected Clan life as soon as he started accepting kittypet food," Fireheart pointed out. "Well, you should at least tell Bluestar," Sandstorm urged. "Too late," murmured Runningwind. Fireheart followed the brown warrior's gaze and saw Darkstripe padding toward Bluestar's den. She was going to have her evening disturbed, when she needed peace more than anything else. Fireheart thrashed his tail at Darkstripe's selfish spite, although he knew that most of his anger

朝育儿室走去。正如火心所担心的那样，黑条纹让整个营地都知道，火心的亲戚又回到了小猫的根。 “你不打算做点什么吗？”沙暴问道，她的声音因愤怒而尖锐。 “你打算让黑条纹把云爪的事告诉氏族吗？”火心摇了摇头。 “我怎么能抗拒真相呢？”他悲伤地喵喵叫道。 “你可以跟氏族说话！”沙暴厉声说。 “解释到底发生了什么。” “云爪一开始接受猫粮就拒绝了氏族生活，”火心指出。 “好吧，你至少应该告诉蓝星，”沙暴敦促道。 “太晚了。”奔风喃喃地说。 火心跟随棕色战士的目光，看见暗条纹朝蓝星的巢穴走去。 在她最需要安静的时候，她却要打扰她的夜晚。 火心对黑条纹自私的恶意甩了甩尾巴，尽管他知道自己大部分的愤怒

was directed at Cloudpaw. "Come on; you might as well eat your supper," meowed Sandstorm, more gently now. But Fireheart had no appetite left. He could only stare around the clearing, returning the glances of the other Clan cats—some anxious, some just greedily curious—as they learned of Cloudpaw's desertion. Runningwind's tail flicked one of Fireheart's hind legs. "Look out." Darkstripe was heading toward them with a smug expression he didn't even try to hide. "Bluestar wants to see you," he meowed loudly to Fireheart. With a resigned sigh Fireheart stood up and made his way to the ThunderClan leader's den. He hesitated at the entrance, feeling a flicker of anxiety. It seemed inevitable that Bluestar would see Cloudpaw's disappearance as yet another betrayal by a ThunderClan cat. Did this mean she would start to doubt Fireheart as well, because of his kittypet origins? "Come in, Fireheart," Bluestar called. "I can smell you lurking out there!" He pushed through the lichen. Bluestar was

矛头直指云爪。“来吧;你还是吃晚饭吧。”沙暴叫道，声音温和多了。 但是火心已经没有胃口了。 他只能在空地上四处张望，回应其他氏族猫的目光——有些是焦虑的，有些只是贪婪的好奇——当它们得知云爪逃跑的消息时。 奔风的尾巴轻拂着火心的一条后腿。 “看。”“暗条”带着一种得意的表情朝他们走来，他甚至都不想掩饰。 “蓝星要见你。”他对火心大声叫道。 火心听天由命地叹了口气，站起身来，向雷霆氏族首领的巢穴走去。 他在入口处犹豫了一下，感到一丝焦虑。 似乎不可避免的是，蓝星会把Cloudpaw的消失看作是ThunderClan猫的又一次背叛。 这是否意味着她也会因为火心的小猫血统而开始怀疑他呢？ “进来，火心。”蓝星喊道。 “我能闻到你躲在外面的味道！”他穿过地衣。 蓝星是

curled in her nest with Whitestorm beside her, his eyes wide with curiosity. Fireheart pricked his ears, trying to stop them from twitching and betraying his nerves. "So that's why you came to see me earlier," meowed Bluestar. "'Wondering if I was hungry, indeed!" Fireheart was caught off guard by the amused purr in her voice. "You only usually offer to bring food to my den if you think I'm dying. You had me thinking there was a rumor going around the camp that I was on my last legs!" Fireheart couldn't believe that she was taking the news about Cloudpaw so calmly. "I-I'm sorry," he stammered. "I was going to tell you about Cloudpaw, but you seemed so…so peaceful. I didn't want to upset you." "I may not have been feeling well lately," Bluestar acknowledged with a dip of her head, "but I'm not made of cobwebs." Her blue eyes grew serious as she went on. "I am still your leader, and I need to know everything that's going on in my Clan." "Yes, Bluestar," answered Fireheart. "Now, Darkstripe tells me that Cloudpaw has

蜷缩在窝里，白风暴在她身边，好奇地睁大眼睛。 火心使劲戳着耳朵，不让耳朵抽搐，以免暴露自己的紧张。 “这就是你之前来找我的原因，”蓝星喵喵地说。 “不知道我是不是真的饿了！”火心被她那逗乐的咕噜声打了个措手不及。 “通常只有当你认为我快死了的时候，你才会主动把食物带到我的窝里。 你让我以为营地里有谣言说我快不行了！”火心不敢相信，听到云爪的消息，她居然能如此平静。 “对不起，”他结结巴巴地说。 “我本来想告诉你云爪的事，但你看起来那么……那么平静。 我不想让你不高兴。” “我最近可能感觉不太好，”蓝星低下头承认，“但我不是蜘蛛网做的。” 她说着说着，蓝眼睛变得严肃起来。 “我仍然是你们的领袖，我需要知道我的部落里发生的一切。” “是的，蓝星。”火心回答。 “现在，黑条纹告诉我云爪见过

gone to live with Twolegs. Did you know this might happen?" Fireheart nodded. "But not until recently," he added. "I only found out yesterday he was visiting a Twoleg nest for food." "And you thought you could sort him out by yourself," murmured Bluestar. "Yes." Fireheart glanced at Whitestorm, who watched in silence, his old eyes missing nothing. "You can't tell a cat what his heart should feel," Bluestar warned. "If Cloudpaw's heart longed for a kittypet life, then not even StarClan could change him." "I know," Fireheart agreed. "But it's not as simple as that." He didn't want to excuse Cloudpaw's behavior to the rest of the Clan, but he wanted Bluestar to know the whole story. Although whether that was for Cloudpaw's sake or his, he wasn't quite sure. "He was taken away by the Twolegs against his will." "Taken away?" echoed Whitestorm. "What makes you say that?" "I saw him being carried off inside a monster," Fireheart explained. "He was crying out for help. I

去和特立格住在一起了。 你知道会发生这种事吗？”Fireheart点点头。 “但直到最近，”他补充说。 “我昨天才发现他去了一个特格莱格的巢穴觅食。” “你以为你可以自己解决他。”蓝星喃喃地说。 “是的。”火心瞥了怀特风暴一眼，他沉默地看着，那双苍老的眼睛什么也没漏掉。 “你无法告诉一只猫它的心应该是什么感觉，”蓝星警告说。 “如果云爪的内心渴望小猫的生活，那么即使是星际战队也无法改变他。” “我知道。”火心同意道。 “但事情没那么简单。” 他不想为云爪在族人面前的行为辩解，但他想让蓝星知道整个故事。 不过，他不太确定这是为了云爪还是为了他自己。 “他是被特立格人强行带走的。” “带走？”怀特风暴附和道。 “你为什么这么说？”“我看见他被装进一个怪物里带走了。”火心解释道。 “他在大声呼救。 我