Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19 Next morning, Fireheart watched the dawn patrol leave before going to relieve Cloudtail from his vigil. His injured leg felt stiff, but the bleeding had stopped. "All quiet?" he meowed. "Do you want to sleep now, or are you up to going hunting? We could go through Tallpines, if you like, and see Princess." Cloudtail stretched his jaws in an enormous yawn, but a heartbeat later he had sprung to his paws. "Let's hunt!" "Okay," Fireheart mewed. "We'll take Sandstorm with us. She has met Princess too." Fireheart knew that his closeness to Sandstorm had been trickling away ever since he had stopped the battle with WindClan. He desperately wanted to restore their previous bond, and inviting her to go hunting might be a good way of doing that. Glancing around to see if she had emerged from the den, he spotted Dustpelt padding toward him, with Fernpaw following. As they drew closer, Fireheart could see that the light brown warrior looked worried.

第十九章第二天早上，火心看着黎明巡逻队离开，然后去接替云尾巴。 他受伤的腿感到僵硬，但血已经止住了。 “都安静了？”他叫道。“你现在是想睡觉，还是想去打猎？” 如果您愿意，我们可以穿过塔林尼，去看看公主。” 云尾巴张开嘴，打了个大大的哈欠，但转眼间它就跳了起来。 “我们狩猎!”“好吧。”火心说。 “我们要带上沙暴。 她也见过公主。” 火心知道，自从他停止与风氏族的战斗以来，他与沙暴的亲密关系就在逐渐消失。 他非常想恢复他们以前的关系，邀请她去打猎可能是一个很好的方法。 他环顾四周，想看看她是不是已经从洞里出来了，只见尘土飞扬地朝他走来，芬爪跟在后面。 当他们走近时，火心发现这位浅棕色的战士忧心忡忡。

"There's something you ought to know," Dustpelt announced. "Fernpaw, tell Fireheart what you just told me." Fernpaw's head was lowered, and she scuffled in the dust with her front paws. Her hesitation gave Fireheart time to wonder what was troubling her, and why she had chosen to confide in Dustpelt instead of her mentor, Darkstripe. The second question was answered as Dustpelt bent his head and gave her ear a couple of licks. Fireheart had never seen the prickly young warrior so gentle. "It's okay," Dustpelt mewed. "There's nothing to be scared of. Fireheart won't be angry with you." The glare he gave Fireheart, unseen by Fernpaw, said, He'd better not! "Come on, Fernpaw." Fireheart tried to sound encouraging. "Tell me what is the matter." Fernpaw's green eyes flickered toward him and away again. "It's Swiftpaw," she mewed. "He…" She hesitated, this time with a glance at Cloudtail, and then went on: "He was really angry that Bluestar wouldn't make him into a warrior. Last night he got all us apprentices together in the den. He said we'd never be warriors unless we did

“有件事你应该知道。”达斯特尔宣布。 “Fernpaw，把你刚才对我说的话告诉火心。” Fernpaw低着头，用前爪在尘土中挣扎。 她的犹豫让火心有时间思考是什么在困扰着她，为什么她选择向尘土皮倾诉，而不是向她的导师暗条纹倾诉。 达斯特尔低下头，在她耳朵上舔了几下，第二个问题得到了回答。 火心从未见过这个多刺的年轻战士如此温柔。 “没事，”达斯皮特叫道。 “没什么好害怕的。 火心不会生你的气的。” 他瞪了火心一眼，Fernpaw看不见，说：“他最好不要！”“来吧，Fernpaw。” 火心试着鼓励她。 “告诉我是怎么回事。” Fernpaw的绿眼睛忽而转向他，忽而又转向别处。 “是Swiftpaw。”她叫道。 “他……”她犹豫了一下，这一次看了云尾巴一眼，接着说：“他真的很生气，因为蓝星没有把他培养成一名战士。 昨晚他把我们所有的学徒都叫到书房里。 他说如果不这么做，我们永远不会成为战士

something so brave that Bluestar couldn't go on ignoring us anymore." She paused again, and Dustpelt murmured, "Go on." "He said we ought to find out who has been killing prey in the forest," mewed Fernpaw, her voice shaking. "He said you didn't seem bothered about finding our enemy. He wanted us to go to Snakerocks because that's where most of the scraps of prey have been found. Swiftpaw thought we might pick up a trail." "What a mouse-brained idea!" Cloudtail burst out. "And what did the rest of the apprentices think about this?" Fireheart asked, shooting a warning glance at Cloudtail and trying to ignore the cold lump of apprehension that was gathering in his belly. "We didn't know. We want to be warriors, but we all knew we shouldn't do something like that without orders, and without at least one warrior with us. In the end, only Swiftpaw and Brightpaw went." "Did you see them go when you were on

勇敢到蓝星不能再无视我们了。” 她又停了一下，达斯特尔低声说：“说下去。” “他说我们应该找出是谁在森林里猎杀猎物。”Fernpaw嘶哑地说，声音颤抖着。 “他说你似乎并不在乎寻找我们的敌人。 他想让我们去蛇岩，因为那里是大多数猎物残骸被发现的地方。 Swiftpaw觉得我们可能会找到线索。” “多么愚蠢的想法！”云尾突然冒了出来。 “那其他学徒对此怎么看？”火心问，警告地瞥了云尾巴一眼，努力不去理会在他肚子里积聚的恐惧。 “我们不知道。我们想成为战士，但我们都知道，没有命令，没有至少一个战士和我们在一起，我们不应该这样做。 最后，只有Swiftpaw和Brightpaw去了。” “你上节目的时候看到他们走了吗？

vigil?" Fireheart demanded, turning to look at Cloudtail. Beginning to look worried, Cloudtail shook his head. "Swiftpaw said Cloudtail wouldn't notice a Twoleg monster roaring through the camp," Fernpaw mumbled. "He and Brightpaw sneaked out through the ferns behind the elders' den." "When was this?" Fireheart demanded. "I'm not sure—before dawn." Fernpaw's voice rose as if she were about to start wailing like a tiny kit. "I didn't know what to do. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't want to give them away. Only I've been feeling worse and worse, and so when I saw Dustpelt, I went to tell him." She gave the brown tabby warrior a grateful glance, and he pressed his muzzle against her speckled gray flank. "We'll have to go after them," Fireheart decided. "I'm coming," Cloudtail meowed instantly, startling Fireheart by the blaze in his blue eyes. "Brightpaw's out there. If anything's hurt her, I'll…I'll shred it!" "Okay," Fireheart agreed, surprised to realize

守夜吗?”火心问道，转身看着云尾巴。 云尾巴开始担心起来，摇了摇头。 “Swiftpaw说云尾巴不会注意到一个双腿怪物在营地里咆哮。”Fernpaw咕哝道。 “他和亮爪子从长老洞穴后面的蕨类植物里溜了出来。” “这是什么时候的事？”Fireheart问道。 “我不确定——在黎明之前。” Fernpaw的声音提高了，好像她要像一个小娃娃一样嚎啕大哭。 “我不知道该怎么办。 我知道这是不对的，但我不想把它们送给别人。 只是我觉得越来越难受，所以我一看见达斯特尔，就去告诉他。” 她感激地瞥了这只棕色虎斑猫一眼，它把自己的嘴紧贴在它那斑驳的灰色胁腹上。 “我们得去追他们。”火心决定。 “我来了。”云尾巴立刻叫了起来，蓝眼睛里的火焰把火心吓了一跳。 “亮爪在外面。如果有什么东西伤害了她，我就……我就把它撕碎！”“好吧。”火心同意了，惊讶地发现

that the young warrior cared so transparently for his former den mate. "Go and fetch a couple more cats to come with us." As the new warrior shot off, Dustpelt meowed, "We'll come too." "I don't want the apprentices involved," Fireheart replied. "Fernpaw is upset enough as it is. Why don't you take her hunting? Take Ashpaw and Darkstripe as well. The Clan needs fresh-kill." Dustpelt gave him a long look. Then he nodded. "Okay." Fireheart wondered whether he ought to tell Bluestar what was going on before they left, but he was reluctant to get Swiftpaw into trouble and give the Clan leader another excuse why the young cat shouldn't become a warrior. If we can fetch them back, Bluestar need never know, he told himself. Besides, Fireheart didn't want to waste a single moment. Cloudtail was already returning with Sandstorm and Graystripe hard behind him. Just the cats I'd have chosen, Fireheart thought. He couldn't ignore the warm feeling at the thought that Graystripe was home again, and they could

这位年轻的战士如此明显地关心他的前室友。 “再去找几只猫和我们一起来。” 当新战士开炮时，达斯皮特叫道：“我们也来。” “我不想让学徒们参与进来。”火心回答。 “Fernpaw已经够难过的了。 你为什么不带她去打猎？ 还有Ashpaw和Darkstripe。 氏族需要新鲜的猎物。” 达斯特珀特久久地看了他一眼。 然后他点点头。“好吧。”火心不知道他是否应该在他们离开之前告诉蓝星发生了什么，但他不愿意让雨爪陷入麻烦，给氏族首领另一个理由，为什么这只年轻的猫不能成为一名战士。 如果我们能把他们找回来，蓝星就永远不会知道。他对自己说。 再说，火心一分钟也不想浪费。 云尾巴已经回来了，沙暴和灰条纹紧跟在他后面。 这正是我想要的猫，火心心想。 想到格雷斯特又回家了，他无法忽视那种温暖的感觉，他们也可以

hunt and fight together as they used to. The gray warrior's eyes were shining as he fell into his accustomed place at Fireheart's side. Fireheart wished he could have had Whitestorm, too; he was Brightpaw's mentor, but he had gone out with the dawn patrol. Sandstorm looked her usual self, alert and focused on their mission. "Cloudtail told us," she meowed briskly. "Let's go." Fireheart took the lead out of the camp and up to the top of the ravine. Almost at once he picked up Swiftpaw's and Brightpaw's scent leading directly toward Snakerocks. There was no need to spend time trying to track them; all they had to do was get to Snakerocks as soon as possible. But we'll be too late, he thought. If they meet whatever's out there… He raced through the forest, his paws scattering fallen leaves. The stiffness in his injured leg was forgotten. Graystripe ran close beside him, and Fireheart recognized the comfort of facing danger with his friend by his side once again, even though so much had changed. As they approached Snakerocks, Fireheart

像以前一样一起打猎，一起战斗。 灰衣战士坐在火心身边惯常的位置上，眼睛闪闪发光。 火心真希望自己也能拥有白风暴；他是亮爪的导师，但他和黎明巡逻队一起出去了。 沙暴看起来和往常一样，机警，专注于任务。 “云尾巴告诉我们的。”她轻快地喵喵叫道。 “我们走吧。”火心带队走出营地，来到峡谷的顶端。 他几乎立刻就闻到了Swiftpaw和Brightpaw的气味，这些气味直接指向蛇岩。 没有必要花时间去追踪他们；他们所要做的就是尽快赶到蛇岩城。 但我们会太迟了，他想。 他跑过森林，用爪子拂开落叶。 他受伤的那条腿僵硬的感觉被忘记了。 灰条纹紧跟在他身边，火心意识到有朋友再一次在他身边面对危险的安慰，尽管发生了这么多变化。 当他们走近蛇岩时，火心