Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 Fireheart's claws felt rooted to the Thunderpath as he stared at the cat that had cast a menacing shadow over his life for so long. There was no need for any pretense of shared Clan loyalty now. Tigerclaw was an outcast, the enemy of all cats who followed the warrior code. The fiery evening sun bled through the tips of the trees, its orange rays glowing on the dark pelt of the massive tabby. Across the silence of the deserted Thunderpath, Tigerclaw sneered at Fireheart. "Is chasing puny cats to their deaths the best you can do to defend your territory?" Fireheart's mind cleared in a heartbeat, leaving his body pulsing with strength and cold fury. He stared straight into Tigerclaw's eyes as the thundering of another monster stirred his ear fur. He held his ground as it whipped by him, another roaring at its heels. But Fireheart felt no fear. In the fleeting gap between the two monsters he focused on Tigerclaw and sprang. Tigerclaw's eyes widened with surprise as Fireheart crashed into him, claws unsheathed and

第十六章火心凝视着那只长久以来在他生活中投下威胁阴影的猫，他的爪子仿佛扎根在了雷霆道上。 现在已经没有必要假装对家族有共同的忠诚了。 虎爪是一个被遗弃的人，是所有遵循武士准则的猫的敌人。 火红的夕阳从树梢上洒下来，橘黄色的光线照在那只巨大的虎斑猫的深色皮毛上。 在寂静的雷道上空，虎爪对着火心冷笑。 “把小猫咪追死就是你保护领地的最好办法吗？”火心的思想在心跳中被清空，他的身体因力量和冰冷的愤怒而搏动。 他直勾勾地盯着虎爪的眼睛，另一只怪物的吼声搅动了他的耳毛。 当它从他身边呼啸而过时，他坚守着阵地，另一只在它的脚后跟咆哮。 但火心并不害怕。 在两个怪物之间短暂的空隙中，他瞄准了虎爪，跳了起来。 虎爪惊讶地睁大了眼睛，火心撞到了虎爪身上，伸出了爪子

hissing with rage. They rolled together across the grass into the cover of the trees. Fireheart drew strength from the familiar scents of the forest—his territory now, not Tigerclaw's—and the pair struggled wildly, flattening the brittle undergrowth and gouging deep scars in the ground with their claws. Fireheart had gotten a good grip on Tigerclaw in his first pounce. He could feel every one of the tabby's ribs. Tigerclaw had lost weight, but his muscles felt hard beneath his thick pelt, and Fireheart quickly realized that exile had not diminished the warrior's strength. Tigerclaw crouched and leaped upward, twisting in midair. Fireheart felt himself being flung from Tigerclaw's back, felt the impact of the parched ground as he landed on his side. He gasped for the air that had been knocked from his lungs and struggled to his paws. He wasn't fast enough. Tigerclaw pounced on him, pinning him to the ground with claws that seemed to pierce Fireheart to the bone. Fireheart yowled in agony, but the massive tom held him down, and he smelled the stench of crowfood as Tigerclaw stretched his neck forward

愤怒地发出嘶嘶声。他们一起滚过草地，进入树林的掩护下。 火心从熟悉的森林气味中汲取力量——森林现在是他的领地，不是虎爪的了。他们俩疯狂地搏斗，把脆弱的矮树丛压扁，用爪子在地上挖出深深的伤痕。 火心第一次扑上去，就把虎爪牢牢地抓住了。 他能感觉到虎斑猫的每一根肋骨。 虎爪的体重减轻了，但在厚厚的皮毛下，他的肌肉感觉很硬，火心很快意识到，流亡并没有削弱这位战士的力量。 虎爪蹲下身子，跳了起来，在半空中扭动着。 火心感到自己从虎爪的背上被甩了出去，侧身落地时感到了干燥的地面的冲击。 他喘着粗气，想吸掉肺里的空气，挣扎着抓爪子。 他跑得不够快。虎爪扑向他，把他按倒在地，爪子似乎刺穿了火心的骨头。 火心痛苦地嚎叫着，但那只大汤姆把他按住了，虎爪把脖子伸过去，他闻到了乌鸦食物的臭味

to hiss into Fireheart's ear, "Are you listening, kittypet? I will kill you, and all your warriors, one by one." Even in the heat of battle, his words sent a chill through Fireheart. He knew Tigerclaw meant what he said. He suddenly became aware of new noises and smells around him—the rustle of unfamiliar paws and strange cat scents. They were surrounded. But by whom? Confused by the scents of the Thunderpath, Whitethroat's blood, and his own fear, Fireheart wondered bleakly if these could be the remaining cats from Brokentail's band of outcasts, who not long ago had helped Tigerclaw attack the ThunderClan camp. Had Whitethroat chosen to join these rogues rather than return to his own disease- ridden Clan? In desperation Fireheart pushed up with his hind legs, his claws raking for a hold on Tigerclaw's belly. His old enemy must have underestimated how strong Fireheart had grown, for his grip loosened and he slithered onto the ground. Fireheart scrabbled away from him, lifting his head in time to see Mousefur and Whitestorm

对着火心的耳朵嘶嘶地说：“你在听吗，小猫？ 我要杀了你，还有你所有的勇士，一个一个的。” 即使在激烈的战斗中，他的话也让火心感到寒意。 他知道虎爪说到做到。 他突然意识到周围有新的声音和气味——不熟悉的爪子发出的沙沙声和奇怪的猫味。 他们被包围了。但是谁呢？ 火心被雷电之路的气味、白喉的鲜血和他自己的恐惧弄得晕头晕脑，他沮丧地怀疑，这些人是不是布罗肯泰尔那群被放逐者中剩下的猫，不久前他们还帮助虎爪袭击了雷电氏族的营地。 白喉选择加入这些流氓而不是回到他自己的疾病缠身的氏族？ 火心绝望地用后腿撑了起来，爪子抓着虎爪的肚子。 他的宿敌一定低估了火心的强壮程度，因为他的手松开了，他滑到了地上。 火心急忙躲开他，抬起头，正好看见了鼠毛和白风暴

hurl themselves from the undergrowth onto two of the cats that had surrounded them. He glanced back at Tigerclaw, who had sprung to his paws and was rearing onto his hind legs, towering over Fireheart with his teeth bared and his amber eyes gleaming with hatred. He ducked as Tigerclaw lunged, darting forward and turning to swipe the dark warrior on the nose. Beside him he could hear the yowls and hisses of Whitestorm and Mousefur as they battled with the courage of StarClan. But they were badly outnumbered. As Fireheart dodged Tigerclaw once more, he looked around desperately for any means of escape. Claws raked at his hind legs, and he turned to see one of Tigerclaw's rogues grasping him and snarling viciously. He was skinny and ungroomed like the others, his eyes glittering with spite. Tigerclaw reared up again with a furious hiss. Fireheart was bracing himself for Tigerclaw's blow when he saw a blaze of gray. A broad pair of shoulders flashed past, and Fireheart recognized a warrior he had fought alongside many times before. Graystripe!

从矮树丛中窜出来，扑向包围他们的两只猫。 他回头看了一眼虎爪，虎爪已经跳起来，用后腿站立起来，高高耸立在火心上方，露出牙齿，琥珀色的眼睛里闪烁着仇恨的光芒。 虎爪猛扑过来，哈利躲开了。虎爪向前冲去，转身朝黑武士的鼻子猛击了一下。 在他身边，他可以听到白风暴和鼠毛的嚎叫和嘶嘶声，他们正在与星族的勇气战斗。 但他们在人数上远远落后。 火心再次躲避虎爪的时候，他绝望地环顾四周，寻找任何逃跑的方法。 虎爪抓着他的后腿，他转过身来，看见虎爪的一个无赖抓住了他，恶狠狠地咆哮着。 他和其他人一样，又瘦又邋遢，眼睛里闪烁着怨恨的光芒。 虎爪又站了起来，发出一声愤怒的嘶嘶声。 火心正准备迎接虎爪的一击，这时他看见一道灰色的火焰。 一对宽阔的肩膀闪过，火心认出了他以前多次并肩作战的战士。 Graystripe !

The gray warrior lunged at Tigerclaw's exposed belly, knocking him backward. Fireheart whipped around and bit the shoulder of the cat that clung to his hind leg until he felt his teeth scrape against bone. He released the rogue when he squealed, and spat out the blood that had dripped into his mouth. Astounded, Fireheart looked at the battle that raged around him. Graystripe must have brought a whole RiverClan patrol, for now it was the rogue cats who were outnumbered as they struggled against the sleek-furred warriors. He turned to see Graystripe twisting free of Tigerclaw's grasp and sprang to help his friend. Together they reared at Tigerclaw, swiping at him to drive him backward, matched step for step as they had practiced so many times in training. Then, without even exchanging a glance, they lunged as one and forced the massive tabby onto the ground. Tigerclaw let out a muffled hiss as Fireheart pressed his foe's muzzle into the dirt while Graystripe grasped the tabby's shoulders and pounded his flank with his hind legs. Fireheart heard screeches fading into the

灰衣武士扑向虎爪露出的肚子，把他打倒在地。 火心猛地转过身来，咬住了那只紧抓他后腿的猫的肩膀，直到他觉得自己的牙齿刮到了骨头上。 流氓尖叫一声，他就放了他，把滴进嘴里的血吐了出来。 火心惊讶地看着周围激烈的战斗。 灰条一定带来了整个河族巡逻队，因为现在，在与毛色光滑的战士的战斗中，数量上处于劣势的是流浪猫。 他转过身来，看到灰条挣脱了虎爪的抓住，跳起来帮助他的朋友。 他们一起对着虎爪抬起头来，猛击他，把他赶了回去，一步一步地配合，就像他们在训练中练习过很多次的那样。 然后，他们连看都没看一眼，就一起扑过去，把那只巨大的虎斑猫推倒在地。 虎爪发出一声低沉的嘶嘶声，火心把虎爪的嘴压在泥土里，灰条纹抓住虎斑猫的肩膀，用后腿猛击虎斑猫的侧腹。 火心听到尖叫声渐渐消失

woods and realized that the rogue cats were fleeing the battle. Tigerclaw took advantage of Fireheart's lapse of attention and wriggled free. He fled toward the brambles, spitting with fury, and disappeared among the barbed stems. As the wails of the rogue cats faded away, the warriors shook the dust from their pelts and licked their wounds. Fireheart realized for the first time that Bluestar's son, Stonefur, was among the RiverClan cats. "Is anyone badly hurt?" he gasped. The cats shook their heads, even Mousefur, who was still bleeding from the first attack. "We should return to our own territory," meowed Stonefur. "ThunderClan thanks you for your help." Fireheart dipped his head respectfully. "Rogue cats threaten all of us," Stonefur replied. "We couldn't leave you to fight them alone." Whitestorm shook his muzzle, scattering drops of blood. He looked at Graystripe. "It's good to fight beside you again, friend. What brought you here?" "He heard Fireheart's yowl from Fourtrees,

伍兹意识到这些流浪猫正在逃离战斗。 虎爪趁火心心不在焉的时候挣脱了。 他朝荆棘跑去，愤怒地吐着唾沫，消失在带刺的茎中。 随着流浪猫的哀号渐渐消失，战士们抖掉皮毛上的灰尘，舔舐伤口。 火心第一次意识到蓝星的儿子石毛也在河族的猫群里。 “有人受了重伤吗？”他喘着气说。 猫们摇了摇头，连老鼠毛也摇了摇头，因为第一次攻击，它还在流血。 “我们应该回到自己的地盘去。”斯通弗叫道。 “ThunderClan感谢你的帮助。” 火心恭恭敬敬地低下头。 “流浪猫威胁着我们所有人。”斯通弗回答。 “我们不能让你一个人去和他们战斗。” 怀特斯托姆摇晃着他的口鼻，血滴四溅。 他看着“灰条纹”。“朋友，能再和你并肩作战真好。 什么风把你吹来了？”他听到四树树传来火心的哀号，