Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20 Fireheart heard grass swishing behind the hedge and tensed his shoulders as the strong odor filled the air. A loud bark made his tail fluff out, and a heartbeat later he saw the quivering nose of a dog thrusting through the hedge. "Run!" he yowled, spinning around. Another rustle and a yelp of excitement told him that a second dog was following the first. Fireheart fled. Sandstorm raced beside him, her fur brushing his as they pelted along the hedgerow with the dogs at their heels. The drumming of the dogs' paws made the ground tremble, and Fireheart could feel their breath hot on his neck. He glanced over his shoulder. Two massive dogs loomed behind them, their soft flesh rippling, their eyes glaring, and their tongues lolling. With a jolt, Fireheart realized that Ravenpaw was nowhere to be seen. "Keep running," he hissed to Sandstorm. "They won't be able to keep this pace up for long." Sandstorm managed to nod, her paws pounding faster. He was right. When he turned his head again,

第二十章火心听到树篱后面青草沙沙作响，空气中弥漫着强烈的气味，他绷紧了肩膀。 一声响亮的吠叫使他的尾巴抖了起来，片刻之后，他看见一只狗的鼻子从树篱里探了出来。 “快跑！”他尖叫着，转过身来。 又是一阵沙沙声和兴奋的叫声告诉他，又有一只狗跟着第一只狗。 Fireheart逃跑了。沙暴在他身边狂奔，她的皮毛擦着他的皮毛，他们沿着树篱飞奔，狗跟在后面。 狗爪的捶打声震得大地颤抖，火心也能感觉到它们喷在他脖子上的热气。 他回头瞥了一眼。 两条巨大的狗在他们身后若隐若现，它们柔软的肉体荡漾，眼睛闪闪发光，舌头耷拉着。 火心猛然一惊，发现拉文爪不见了。 “继续跑。”他嘶嘶地对沙暴说。 “他们不可能长时间保持这种速度。” 沙暴勉强点头，她的爪子拍打得更快了。 他是对的。当他再次转过头时，

he saw that the dogs had begun to fall behind. Fireheart sized up an ash tree in the hedgerow ahead of them. It was some way off, but if they could put enough distance between themselves and the dogs, they might be able to scramble up it to safety. "See that ash?" he meowed to Sandstorm, panting. "Climb it as quickly as you can. I'll follow." Sandstorm grunted in agreement, her breath coming in ragged gasps. They raced on toward the tree. Fireheart yowled to Sandstorm and she shot up the trunk, clawing her way to safety. Before he leaped for the tree, Fireheart looked over his shoulder once more to see how far away the dogs were. His fur shot up when he saw huge teeth barely a rabbitlength from his face. With a vicious snarl the dog lunged at him. Fireheart whipped around and lashed out with his forepaws, his claws sharp as blackthorns. He felt the flesh rip on the dog's swaying jowls and heard it yelp in pain. He slashed once more, then turned and scrambled up the tree, as fast as a squirrel. He stopped on the lowest branch and looked down.

他看到狗已经开始落在后面了。 火心打量着前面树篱里的一棵白蜡树。 那地方离这儿有一段距离，但如果他们能和狗保持足够的距离，也许就能爬到安全的地方。 “看见那灰烬了吗？”他气喘吁吁地对沙暴叫道。 “尽可能快地爬上去。 我会跟进。”沙暴咕哝着表示同意，她的呼吸断断续续。 他们继续向那棵树跑去。 火心对沙暴狂吼一声，她爬上树干，爬到安全的地方。 在他跳到树下之前，火心再次回头看了看狗离他有多远。 当他看到巨大的牙齿离他的脸只有一只兔子那么长时，他的毛一下子竖了起来。 那只狗恶狠狠地吠了一声，扑向他。 火心猛地转过身来，用前爪猛击，爪子像黑刺一样锋利。 他感到狗摇摇晃晃的下巴上的肉被撕裂了，听到它痛苦地尖叫。 他又砍了一刀，然后转身爬上树，像松鼠一样快。 他停在最低的树枝上向下看。

Below him the dog yowled in frustration while the other joined it, throwing its huge head back and bellowing angrily. "I…I thought he'd gotten you!" Sandstorm stammered. She crawled along the branch and pressed her flank against Fireheart's ruffled fur until they both stopped trembling. The dogs fell silent, but they stayed at the bottom of the tree, pacing back and forth. "Where's Ravenpaw?" Sandstorm asked suddenly. Fireheart shook his head, trying to clear away the terror he had felt when the dogs were chasing him. "He must have run the other way. He should be okay. I think there were only two dogs." "I thought this was his territory. Didn't he know there were dogs on this side of the field too?" Fireheart couldn't answer. He saw Sandstorm's expression darken. "You don't suppose he led us here on purpose?" she growled, narrowing her eyes. "Of course not," snapped Fireheart, a flash of uncertainty making him sound defensive. "Why

在他下面，那只狗沮丧地嚎叫着，而另一只狗也加入了进来，把它的大脑袋向后一甩，愤怒地吼叫着。 “我……我以为他抓住你了！”沙尘暴结结巴巴地说。 她沿着树枝爬去，把自己的侧身紧贴在火心皱巴巴的皮毛上，直到他们俩都停止了颤抖。 狗们沉默了，但它们一直呆在树底下，来回踱步。 “Ravenpaw在哪?”沙暴突然问道。 火心摇了摇头，试图消除狗追他时的恐惧。 “他一定是往另一个方向跑了。 他应该没事的。我想只有两条狗。” “我以为这是他的地盘。 难道他不知道这一边也有狗吗？”火心无法回答。 他看到沙暴的表情变暗了。 “你不会认为他是故意把我们引到这儿来的吧？”她咆哮着，眯起眼睛。 “当然不是。”火心厉声说，一阵不确定使他听起来像是在为自己辩护。 “为什么

would he?" "It's just strange he should turn up out of nowhere and lead us here, that's all." A high-pitched mew made Fireheart and Sandstorm peer down through the leaves. Was that Ravenpaw? The dogs swung their heads around as they tried to locate the sound. Fireheart spotted a sleek black shape disappearing into the barley. Ravenpaw yowled again, and the dogs pricked up their ears. With barks of excitement they hurtled toward the swaying stems that gave away Ravenpaw's hiding place. Fireheart stared down from the tree. Could Ravenpaw outrun the dogs? He watched the barley tremble as Ravenpaw zigzagged invisibly through the field. The brown backs of the dogs crashed after him like ungainly fish, flattening the stalks with their clumsy paws and barking with frustration. Suddenly Fireheart heard the sharp yap of a Twoleg. The dogs stopped in their tracks and lifted their heads above the barley stalks, their tongues lolling out. Fireheart peered along the field. A Twoleg was climbing over a wooden fence

他会吗?”“他不知道从哪里冒出来，还把我们带到这儿来，真奇怪，就是这样。” 一声尖厉的新造火心和沙暴透过树叶向下窥视。 那是拉文爪吗？狗们摇着头试图确定声音的位置。 火心发现一个光滑的黑色身影消失在大麦中。 拉文爪又叫了一声，狗们都竖起了耳朵。 它们兴奋地吠叫着冲向摇曳的树干，拉文爪的藏身之处就在那里。 火心从树上往下看。 拉文爪能跑得过狗吗？ 他看着大麦颤抖着，拉文爪悄无声息地在田野里蜿蜒而行。 狗的棕色背脊像一条笨拙的鱼一样跟在他后面，用笨拙的爪子压扁了麦秆，沮丧地叫着。 突然，火心听到了两条腿狗的尖叫声。 狗停了下来，抬起头来，伸着舌头。 火心凝视着田野。 一只特沃勒格人正在爬过木栅栏

set in the hedge. Two lengths of something like twine dangled from its hand. Reluctantly the dogs began to push their way through the barley toward the Twoleg, who grabbed the collars around their necks and attached them to the twine. With a sigh of relief Fireheart watched the dogs being dragged away, their tails down and their ears drooping. "I see you're as fast as ever!" Fireheart whipped around in surprise. Ravenpaw was clawing his way from the trunk onto their branch. The black cat nodded at Sandstorm. "Not sure why they bothered chasing her, though. She wouldn't have made much of a meal." Sandstorm stood up and brushed past Ravenpaw. "Don't we have an apprentice to rescue?" she inquired icily. "I see she's still a bit prickly," Ravenpaw remarked. "I wouldn't tease her if I were you," Fireheart murmured as he followed Sandstorm down the tree. He decided not to tell his old friend that Sandstorm had suspected him of leading them

在树篱里。它的手上悬着两根类似绳子的东西。 狗不情愿地穿过大麦向特沃列格人挤去，特沃列格人抓住它们脖子上的项圈，把它们系在麻绳上。 火心松了一口气，看着狗被拖走，它们垂着尾巴，耷拉着耳朵。 “我看你还是和以前一样快！”火心惊讶地转过身来。 拉文爪正从树干上爬到他们的树枝上。 黑猫朝沙暴点点头。 “但我不知道他们为什么要追她。 她做不了多少饭。” 沙暴站起来，从拉文爪身边擦过。 “我们不是有个学徒要救吗？”她冷冷地问道。 “我看她还是有点带刺。”拉文爪说。 “如果我是你，我就不会逗她。”火心跟着沙暴下了树，喃喃地说。 他决定不告诉他的老朋友沙暴组织怀疑他在领导他们

into a trap. Ravenpaw was no fool—he'd probably worked that out for himself, but it was a sign of his newfound confidence that he wouldn't let her hostility bother him. And with the dogs safely out of the way, the only thing Fireheart wanted to think about was finding Cloudpaw. Ravenpaw led them to the top of the rise and stopped. A Twoleg dwelling lay in the shallow valley ahead of them, just as he had promised. "That's where you took Cloudpaw?" Fireheart asked. When the black cat nodded, Fireheart's belly began to churn with nervous excitement. Even if they did find Cloudpaw, what if he didn't want to come back with them? And if he did, would the Clan ever be able to trust a cat who had been lured into the softness of kittypet life? "I can't smell him," Sandstorm remarked, and Fireheart didn't miss the suspicious edge to her tone. "His scent was already stale when I came to see him last time," Ravenpaw explained patiently. "I think the Twolegs are keeping him locked in."

落入陷阱。拉文爪不是傻瓜——他可能已经自己算出来了，但这表明他重新获得了信心，不会让她的敌意影响他。 狗们安全离开后，火心唯一想做的就是找到云爪。 拉文爪把他们带到山顶，停了下来。 正如他所承诺的，在他们前面的浅山谷里有一座特沃莱格人的住宅。 “你把云爪带到那儿去了？”Fireheart问道。 黑猫点了点头，火心的肚子又紧张又兴奋地翻腾起来。 即使他们找到了云爪，如果它不想跟他们一起回来怎么办？ 如果他真这么做了，氏族还能信任一只被引诱到猫咪生活中去的猫吗？ “我闻不到他的味道。”沙暴说，火心并没有注意到她语气中可疑的边缘。 “上次我来看它的时候，它的气味已经不新鲜了。”拉文爪耐心地解释道。 “我想特立格人把他关在里面了。”