Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23 "Fire! Wake up!" Fireheart yowled. Frostfur stumbled out of the warriors' den, her eyes wide with fear. "We must leave the camp at once!" Fireheart ordered. "Tell Bluestar the forest is on fire!" He ran to the elders' den and called through the branches of the fallen oak, "Fire! Get out!" Then he raced to where the apprentices were clambering drowsily from their nests. "Leave the camp! Head for the river," he called. Cloudpaw's bewildered face stared at him, still dazed by sleep. "Head for the river!" Fireheart repeated urgently. Frostfur was already helping Bluestar across the shadowy clearing. The leader's face was a grotesque mask of fear as Frostfur nudged her forward with her nose. "This way!" Fireheart yowled, beckoning with his tail before rushing to help the white she-cat guide Bluestar toward the entrance. Cats were streaming past on either side of them, their fur bristling. The forest seemed to roar around them, and above the noise came a hideous two-tone wailing

第二十三章“着火了！醒醒!”Fireheart大哭大叫。 霜佛跌跌撞撞地走出战士们的洞穴，惊恐地瞪大了眼睛。 “我们必须马上离开营地！”Fireheart命令。 “告诉蓝星森林着火了！”他跑到长老的洞穴里，透过倒下的橡树的树枝喊道：“着火了！出去!”然后他跑到学徒们睡眼惺忪地从窝里爬出来的地方。 “离开营地！”朝河边走。”他喊道。 云爪困惑的脸盯着他，睡眼惺忪。 “往河里走！”火心急切地重复着。 弗罗斯特弗已经在帮助蓝星穿过那片阴暗的空地。 弗罗斯特弗用鼻子把首领往前推了推，首领的脸变成了一副可怕的面具。 “这样!”火心嚎叫着，用尾巴示意，然后冲过去帮助白色母猫把蓝星带到入口。 猫从他们两边络绎不绝地走过，毛都竖了起来。 森林似乎在他们周围咆哮，在这声音之上传来了可怕的双音哀号

and the frantic barking of Twolegs as they crashed through the forest. Smoke was billowing thickly into the clearing now, and behind it the light of the fire grew ever brighter as it bore down on the camp. Not till she was outside did Bluestar begin to run, caught in the jostling stream of cats surging up and out of the ravine. "Head for the river," Fireheart ordered. "Keep an eye on your denmates. Don't lose sight of one another." He felt an eerie calm within him, like a pool of icy water, while noise and heat and panic raged outside. Fireheart darted back to round up Willowpelt's kits as they struggled after their mother. She was carrying the smallest one in her mouth, her eyes stricken with fear above the bundle that bumped against her forelegs. "Where's Goldenflower?" Fireheart demanded. Willowpelt signaled with her nose, pointing up the ravine. Fireheart nodded, relieved that at least one queen and her kits were safely out of the camp. He called to Longtail, who was already halfway up the rocky slope. As the warrior

还有特立格在森林中狂吠的声音。 浓烟滚滚地涌进空地，浓烟后面的火光越烧越亮，越逼近营地。 直到她走到外面，蓝星才开始奔跑，被一群涌上峡谷的猫所包围。 “往河边走。”火心命令道。 “留意一下你的同伴。 不要失去彼此的视线。” 他感到内心有一种诡异的平静，就像一池冰水，而外面的噪音、炎热和恐慌在肆虐。 当威洛佩特的孩子们奋力追赶妈妈的时候，火心冲回去把它们围在一起。 她嘴里叼着那个最小的孩子，眼睛里充满了恐惧，看着撞在她前腿上的那捆孩子。 “Goldenflower在哪?”Fireheart问道。 威洛佩尔特用鼻子示意，指着上面的峡谷。 火心点点头，松了一口气，因为至少有一个女王和她的幼崽安全离开了营地。 他对长尾喊了一声，长尾已经爬到岩石坡的一半了。 作为勇士

scrambled back down, Fireheart scooped up another of Willowpelt's kits and passed it to Mousefur, who had raced up behind him. He picked up the third, and when Longtail reached his side he gave the kit to him. "Stay near Willowpelt!" he ordered, knowing that the queen would keep running only if she knew her kits were safe. Fireheart stood at the bottom of the ravine and watched the cats scrambling upward. Clouds of smoke swirled across the sky, hiding Silverpelt from view. Was StarClan watching this? he wondered briefly. He lowered his eyes and saw Bluestar's thick gray pelt reach the top, bundled along by the other cats. Finally he followed, glancing over his shoulder as he scrambled upward to see fire stretching greedy orange tongues into the ravine, ripping through the bone-dry bracken toward the camp. Fireheart scrambled onto the ridge. "Wait!" he called to the fleeing cats. They stopped and turned to face him. Smoke stung Fireheart's eyes as he peered at his Clanmates through the choking clouds. "Is any cat missing?" he demanded,

火心爬了下来，又捡起了威洛佩特的另一个工具包，递给了跟在他后面跑过来的鼠毛。 他拿起第三个，当长尾巴走到他身边时，他把工具箱递给了他。 “待在威洛佩尔特附近！”他命令道，因为他知道女王只有在知道她的幼崽安全的情况下才会继续奔跑。 火心站在峡谷底部，看着猫们往上爬。 烟雾缭绕着天空，把西尔弗佩尔特遮住了。 StarClan看到了吗？ 他想了一会儿。他垂下眼睛，看到蓝星厚厚的灰色毛皮被其他猫捆在一起，到达了山顶。 最后，他跟在后面，一边往上爬，一边回头看了一眼，只见火焰贪婪地把橙色的舌头伸向峡谷，穿过干巴巴的蕨类植物，向营地方向蔓延。 火心爬上了山脊。 “等等！”他对逃跑的猫喊道。 他们停下来，转过身来面对他。 火心透过令人窒息的云层凝视着他的族人，烟雾刺痛了他的眼睛。 “有猫不见了吗？”他问，

scanning the faces. "Where are Halftail and Patchpelt?" Cloudpaw's voice rose in a terrified mew. Fireheart saw heads turning to look questioningly at one another, and Smallear answered, "They're not with me." "They must still be in camp!" meowed Whitestorm. "Where's Bramblekit?" Goldenflower's desperate wail rose through the trees above the noise of the fire. "He was behind me when I was climbing the ravine!" Fireheart's mind reeled. This meant three of the Clan were missing. "I'll find them," he promised. "It's too dangerous for you to stay here any longer. Whitestorm and Darkstripe, make sure the rest of the Clan make it to the river." "You can't go back down there!" Sandstorm protested, forcing her way through the cats to stand beside him. Her green eyes searched his desperately. "I have to," Fireheart replied. "I'm coming too," Sandstorm told him. "No!" called Whitestorm. "We are short of

扫描他们的脸。“半尾巴和小补丁在哪儿？”云爪的声音惊恐地提高了。 火心看到大家都转过头来疑惑地看着对方，小莫回答道：“他们没跟我在一起。” “他们一定还在营地里！” “Bramblekit在哪?”金花绝望的哀号响彻树林，盖过了大火的轰鸣声。 “我爬峡谷的时候他就在我后面！”火心一阵眩晕。 这意味着“氏族”中有三个人失踪了。 “我会找到他们的，”他保证道。 “你在这儿再呆下去太危险了。 ‘白风暴’和‘黑条纹’，确保家族的其他成员到河边去。” “你不能再下去了！”沙暴抗议道，挤过一群猫，站到他身边。 她那双绿眼睛绝望地打量着他。 “我必须这么做。”火心回答。 “我也来。”沙暴告诉他。 “不！”白风暴喊道。“我们缺少

warriors already. We need you to help get the Clan to the river." Fireheart nodded in agreement. "Then I'll come!" Fireheart stared in horror as Cinderpelt limped forward. "I'm no warrior," she mewed. "I'd be no use anyway if we met an enemy patrol." "No way!" Fireheart spat. He could not let Cinderpelt risk her life. Then he saw the matted pelt of Yellowfang as she shouldered her way through the crowd. "I may be old, but I'm steadier on my paws than you," the old medicine cat told Cinderpelt. "The Clan will need your healing skills. I'll go with Fireheart. You stay with the Clan." Cinderpelt opened her mouth, but Fireheart snapped, "There's no time to argue. Yellowfang, come with me. The rest of you, head for the river." He turned before Cinderpelt could argue and began to pick his way back down the ravine into the smoke and heat below. Fireheart was terrified, but he forced himself to keep running when he reached the bottom of the ravine. He could hear Yellowfang gasping

战士了。我们需要你帮忙把族人送到河边。” 火心点头表示同意。 “那我就来！”火心惊恐地看着灰姑娘一瘸一拐地向前走。 “我不是战士，”她叫道。 “如果我们遇到敌人的巡逻队，我也没用。” “不可能!”Fireheart口角。他不能让灰姑娘冒生命危险。 接着，他看到了她在人群中挤过的黄牙狼牙。 “我可能老了，但我的爪子比你更稳，”老药猫对灰姑娘说。 “氏族需要你的治疗技能。 我和火心一起去。你留在氏族里。” 灰姑娘张开嘴，火心厉声说：“没时间争论了。 黄牙，跟我来。剩下的人，到河边去。” 煤灰还没来得及争辩，他就转过身来，开始沿着峡谷往下挑路，躲进下面的浓烟和热气里。 火心吓坏了，但当他跑到峡谷底部时，他强迫自己继续奔跑。 他听见黄牙在喘气

behind him. The smoke made every breath painful, even for his young lungs. Bright flames flickered just beyond the wall of the camp, tearing greedily at the carefully woven ferns, but they hadn't reached the clearing yet. The elders' den was nearest, and Fireheart struggled half-blind toward it. He could hear the crackling of flames as they licked at the far side of the fallen oak. The heat here was so intense, it felt as though the fire would burst into the camp at any moment. Fireheart saw the shape of Halftail slumped below a branch. Patchpelt lay beside him, his jaws buried in Halftail's scruff as if he'd been trying to drag his friend to safety when he collapsed. Fireheart stopped in dismay, but Yellowfang had already rushed past him and began dragging Halftail's body toward the camp entrance. "Don't just stand there," she growled through a mouthful of fur. "Help me get them out of here." Fireheart grasped Patchpelt in his jaws and pulled him across the smoke-filled clearing and into the tunnel. He struggled not to cough as he tugged Patchpelt through the gorse, its sharp spines clutching at the old cat's matted fur.

在他身后。烟雾使他每一次呼吸都感到痛苦，甚至连他年轻的肺也感到痛苦。 明亮的火焰在营地墙外闪烁，贪婪地撕裂着精心编织的蕨类植物，但他们还没有到达空地。 长老们的洞穴离这里最近，火心半瞎半瞎地挣扎着朝它走去。 他能听到火焰在那棵倒下的橡树的远处舔舐时发出的噼啪声。 这里的热是如此的强烈，感觉好像火随时都会烧进营地。 火心看见半尾巴的身影倒在一根树枝下。 Patchpelt躺在他身边，他的下巴埋在半尾巴的颈背里，好像他是想把他的朋友拖到安全的地方，但他倒下了。 火心惊愕地停了下来，但黄牙已经冲过他身边，开始拖着半尾巴的尸体向营地入口走去。 “别光站在那儿。”她对着满嘴的皮毛咆哮道。 “帮我把他们弄出去。” 火心咬住补丁皮，拖着他穿过烟雾弥漫的空地，进入隧道。 他使劲拽着小补丁穿过金雀花，金雀花的尖刺紧紧抓着老猫的乱糟糟的皮毛，他忍着不咳嗽。