Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 Fireheart's fur bristled with disbelief and fury as he gazed up at the new leader of ShadowClan standing on the Great Rock. He watched as the cat swung his massive head from side to side. Muscles rippled under his gleaming pelt and his amber eyes seemed to glow with triumph. "Tigerclaw!" Fireheart spat. His old enemy— the cat who had tried to kill him more than once —was now one of the most powerful cats in the forest. The full moon rode high above Fourtrees, shedding its cold light over the cats of the four Clans, assembled there for the Gathering. They had all been shocked to learn of the death of Nightstar, the ShadowClan leader. But no cat in the forest had expected that ShadowClan's new leader would be Tigerclaw, the former ThunderClan deputy. Beside Fireheart, Darkstripe was rigid with excitement, his eyes glittering. Fireheart wondered what thoughts were going through the mind of his black-pelted Clan mate. When Tigerclaw had been banished from ThunderClan,

第一章火心抬头望着站在巨岩上的暗影氏族的新首领，他的毛里充满了难以置信和愤怒。 他看着那只猫晃动着它那硕大的脑袋。 他那闪闪发光的皮毛下肌肉荡漾，琥珀色的眼睛似乎闪烁着胜利的光芒。 “Tigerclaw !”Fireheart口角。 他的宿敌——那只曾经不止一次想要杀死他的猫——现在成了森林里最强大的猫之一。 满月高高挂在四棵树上，冷冷的月光洒在四个氏族的猫身上，他们聚集在这里参加大会。 听到暗影氏族首领夜星的死讯，他们都感到震惊。 但森林里的猫都没有想到，影子氏族的新首领竟然是虎爪，前雷霆氏族的副手。 在火心旁边，暗条纹兴奋得僵住了，眼睛闪闪发光。 火心不知道他的黑皮队友在想些什么。 虎爪被驱逐出雷霆氏族后，

he had invited his old friend to go with him, but Darkstripe had refused. Was he regretting that decision now? Fireheart caught sight of Sandstorm weaving her way toward him. "What's going on?" the pale ginger she-cat hissed as she came into earshot. "Tigerclaw can't lead ShadowClan. He's a traitor!" For several heartbeats, Fireheart hesitated. Shortly after he had joined ThunderClan, Fireheart had discovered that Tigerclaw had murdered Redtail, the deputy. Once Tigerclaw became deputy himself, he had led rogue cats to attack the ThunderClan camp, trying to murder their leader, Bluestar, so that he could take her place. As punishment, he had been banished from their Clan and the forest. It was hardly a noble history for a leader of any Clan. "But ShadowClan don't know about all that," Fireheart reminded Sandstorm now, keeping his voice low. "None of the other Clans know." "Then you should tell them!" Fireheart glanced up at Tallstar and Crookedstar, the leaders of WindClan and RiverClan, respectively, who stood beside

他曾邀请他的老朋友和他一起去，但“暗条纹”拒绝了。 他现在后悔那个决定了吗？ 火心看到沙暴正在向他走来。 “出什么事了？”那只淡黄色的母猫走到听得见的地方，嘶嘶地问。 “虎爪不能领导影族。 他是叛徒！”火心犹豫了好几下。 在他加入雷霆氏族后不久，火心发现虎爪谋杀了副首领红尾巴。 虎爪一当上副手，就率领一些流浪猫袭击了雷霆氏族的营地，试图谋杀他们的首领蓝星，这样他就可以取代她的位置。 作为惩罚，他被驱逐出氏族和森林。 对于任何氏族的首领来说，这都算不上是一段高尚的历史。 “但暗影氏族并不知道这些。”火心压低声音提醒沙暴。 “其他氏族都不知道。” “那你应该告诉他们！”火心抬头看了一眼站在旁边的风族首领高星和河族首领曲星

Tigerstar on the Great Rock. Would they listen if he told them what he knew? ShadowClan had suffered so much from Brokentail's bloodthirsty leadership, followed by a devastating sickness, that they probably wouldn't care what their new leader had done, as long as he could forge them into a strong Clan again. Besides, Fireheart couldn't help feeling a guilty relief that Tigerclaw had satisfied his hunger for power in a different Clan. Maybe now ThunderClan could stop waiting for him to attack, and Fireheart could walk the forest without constantly glancing over his shoulder. Yet, as he struggled with his conflicting emotions, he knew that he would never forgive himself if he let Tigerclaw come to power without even making a protest. "Fireheart!" He turned to see Cloudpaw, his long-furred white apprentice, padding quickly toward him with the wiry brown warrior Mousefur just behind. "Fireheart, are you just going to stand there and let that piece of fox dung take over?" "Quiet, Cloudpaw," Fireheart ordered. "I

巨石上的虎星。 如果他告诉他们他所知道的，他们会听吗？ 阴影氏族在布罗肯泰尔嗜血的领导下遭受了如此多的痛苦，随之而来的是毁灭性的疾病，他们可能不会关心他们的新领袖做了什么，只要他能把他们重新锻造成一个强大的氏族。 此外，火心也不禁感到一种内疚的解脱，因为虎爪已经在另一个氏族中满足了他对权力的渴望。 也许现在雷霆氏族可以停止等待他的进攻，而火心可以在森林中行走，而不必总是回头看他。 然而，当他在矛盾的情绪中挣扎时，他知道，如果他让虎爪掌权而不提出抗议，他永远不会原谅自己。 “Fireheart !”他转过身来，看见他的长毛白衣徒弟云爪正飞快地朝他走来，身后紧跟着那身结实的棕色战士鼠毛。 “火心，你打算站在那里，让那块狐狸粪占据上风吗？”“安静，云爪。”火心命令。 “我

know. I'll—" He broke off as Tigerclaw paced to the front of the Great Rock. "I am pleased to be here with you at the Gathering this night." The huge tabby spoke with quiet authority. "I stand here before you as the new leader of ShadowClan. Nightstar died of the sickness that took so many of my Clan, and StarClan have named me as his successor." Tallstar, the black-and-white leader of WindClan, turned to him. "Welcome, Tigerstar," he meowed, nodding respectfully. "May StarClan walk with you." Crookedstar meowed agreement as the new ShadowClan leader dipped his head in acknowledgment. "I thank you for your greetings," Tigerstar replied. "It's an honor to stand here with you, although I wish the circumstances could have been different." "Wait a moment," Tallstar interrupted him. "There should be four of us here." He peered down at the crowd of cats below. "Where's the leader of ThunderClan?"

知道。我要——”当虎爪朝大岩石走去时，他停住了。 “我很高兴今晚能和你们一起参加聚会。” 那只巨大的虎斑猫带着平静的权威说话。 “我站在你们面前，作为暗影氏族的新首领。 夜之星死于夺去了我们氏族许多成员的疾病，而星际氏族已指定我为他的继承人。” 高个子，风氏族的黑白首领，转向他。 “欢迎你，虎星。”他喵喵叫着，恭敬地点点头。 “愿星族与你同行。” 当新的影子氏族首领低下头表示感谢时，克鲁克星喵喵地表示同意。 “谢谢你的问候，”虎星回答。 “与你们站在这里是我的荣幸，尽管我希望情况可以有所不同。” “等一下，”塔尔斯塔打断了他的话。 “我们这里应该有四个人。” 他凝视着下面的一群猫。 “雷霆氏族的首领在哪里？”

"Go on." Fireheart felt a cat nudge him, and glanced around to see that Whitestorm had joined the other ThunderClan warriors. "You're taking Bluestar's place, remember?" Fireheart nodded to him, suddenly unable to speak. He bunched his muscles and got ready to spring. A heartbeat later he was scrambling to the top of the Great Rock to stand beside the three leaders. For a moment the unfamiliar viewpoint took his breath away. He seemed to be far above the hollow, watching the changing patterns of light and dark on the cats below as the moon shone through the branches of the four massive oak trees. Fireheart shivered as he caught the pale gleam reflected from countless pairs of eyes. "Fireheart?" He looked up as Tallstar spoke. "Why are you here? Has something happened to Bluestar?" Fireheart dipped his head respectfully. "Our leader breathed smoke in the fire, and she's not yet well enough to travel. But she'll recover," he added hastily. "It's nothing serious." Tallstar nodded, and Crookedstar broke in testily, "Are we ever going to start? We're wasting

“继续。”火心感到一只猫推了他一下，他环顾四周，发现白风暴已经加入了其他雷霆族战士的行列。 “你要接替蓝星的位置，记得吗？”火心朝他点了点头，突然说不出话来。 他绷紧肌肉，准备跳起来。 一眨眼的功夫，他就爬上了巨石顶，站在三个领头的人旁边。 那不熟悉的景色使他一时喘不过气来。 他似乎远远地站在山谷的上方，看着月光透过四棵高大的橡树的枝干，在下面的猫身上变换着明暗的图案。 看到无数双眼睛反射出的苍白光芒，火心颤抖起来。 “Fireheart ?”塔尔斯塔说话时，他抬起头来。 “你为什么在这儿？”蓝星出什么事了吗？”火心恭恭敬敬地低下头。 “我们的领导人在火中吸入了烟雾，她的身体状况还不能旅行。 不过她会好的，”他急忙补充说。 “没什么大不了的。”高星点了点头，克鲁克星不耐烦地插嘴说：“我们要开始了吗？ 我们浪费

moonlight." Without waiting for a reply, the pale tabby RiverClan leader gave the yowl that signaled the beginning of the meeting. When the murmuring of the cats below had died away, he meowed, "Cats of all Clans, welcome to the Gathering. Tonight we are joined by a new leader, Tigerstar." He beckoned to the massive warrior with a flick of his tail. "Tigerstar, are you ready to speak now?" Thanking him with a courteous nod, Tigerstar stepped forward to address the assembled cats. "I stand here before you by the will of StarClan. Nightstar was a noble warrior, but he was old, and he did not have the strength to fight the sickness when it came. His deputy, Cinderfur, died too." Fireheart felt his fur prickling with unease as he listened. Clan leaders received nine lives when they went to share tongues with StarClan at Mothermouth, and Nightstar had become leader only a few seasons ago. What had happened to his nine lives? Had ShadowClan's sickness been so violent that it had taken all of them? Looking down, Fireheart caught sight of Runningnose, the ShadowClan medicine cat,

月光。”还没等对方回答，这位斑纹苍白的河族首领就嚎叫了一声，这标志着会议开始了。 当下面猫的窃窃私语渐渐消失后，他喵喵地叫道：“所有氏族的猫，欢迎来到聚会。 今晚我们请来了一位新领袖，虎星。” 他摇了摇尾巴，向那个大块头的战士示意。 “虎星，你准备好说话了吗？”虎星礼貌地点点头表示感谢，然后走上前来对聚集在一起的猫讲话。 “我站在你们面前，代表星族的意愿。 夜星是一名高贵的战士，但他年纪大了，当疾病来袭时，他没有力气对抗。 他的副手灰姑娘也死了。” 火心听着，不安地感到皮毛刺痛。 氏族首领在母嘴与星族分享语言时得到九条命，而夜星在几个赛季前才成为首领。 他的九条命怎么了？ 难道影族的病是如此猛烈，夺去了他们所有人的生命吗？ 火心往下一看，看见了暗影家族的药猫流鼻，