Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 "Keep well back," Brackenfur warned. "This is a dangerous place." He and Fireheart, with their two apprentices, were standing at the edge of the Thunderpath. Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw wrinkled their noses against its bitter smell. "It doesn't look dangerous to me," meowed Bramblepaw. Tentatively he reached out one paw to place it on the dark, stony surface. At the same moment, Fireheart felt the ground tremble with the roar of an approaching monster. "Get back!" he snarled. Bramblepaw leaped back into the safety of the verge as the monster flashed past, buffeting his fur with hot, stinking wind. He was quivering with shock. Tawnypaw's eyes were wide with astonishment. "What was that?" she mewed. "A monster," Fireheart explained. "They carry Twolegs in their belly. But they never leave the Thunderpath, so you're quite safe—as long as you stay away from it." He fixed Bramblepaw with a stern gaze. "When a warrior tells you to do

“往后靠，”布莱肯弗警告说。 “这是个危险的地方。” 他和火心，还有他们的两个徒弟，正站在雷道的边缘。 蓝爪和紫爪皱起了鼻子，抵挡着它的苦味。 “在我看来，这并不危险。” 他试探性地伸出一只爪子，放在黑暗的石头表面上。 与此同时，火心感到地面因一只正在逼近的怪物的吼声而颤抖。 “退后！”他吼道。蓝爪跳回了安全的边缘，怪物从他身边闪过，用灼热的、发臭的风拍打着他的皮毛。 他吓得浑身发抖。 汤爷爷惊讶地睁大了眼睛。 “那是什么？”她叫道。 “怪物。”火心解释道。 “它们肚子里装着两条腿。 但是他们从不离开雷道，所以你是很安全的——只要你远离它。” 他严厉地盯着蓝爪。 “当一个战士告诉你怎么做

something, you do it. Ask questions if you like, but afterward." Bramblepaw nodded, scuffling his paws. "Sorry, Fireheart." He was already recovering from the shock; Fireheart had to admit that many more experienced cats would have been terrified to find themselves so close to a monster. Since they had left camp that morning, Bramblepaw had shown himself to be brave, curious, and eager to learn. Sandstorm, Graystripe, and Whitestorm had gone out on the dawn patrol, while Fireheart and Brackenfur gave their apprentices the tour of the territory. Fireheart had found himself moving with extra stealth along the once-familiar trails, haunted by shadows and afraid at any moment that he would come face-to-face with the dark presence in the forest. He had kept well away from Snakerocks, unwilling to risk that accursed place with two new apprentices. Soon, he knew, he would have to do something about the threat that lurked there, but he was waiting until Lostface was well enough to tell them exactly what had attacked her. And deep down Fireheart couldn't help wondering if,

有些事，你就去做。如果你愿意，可以问问题，但要先问完。” 蓝爪点点头，扭着爪子。 “对不起,Fireheart。”他已经从震惊中恢复过来了；火心不得不承认，许多更有经验的猫在发现自己如此接近一只怪物时会感到害怕。 自从那天早上他们离开营地以来，蓝爪表现出了勇敢、好奇和渴望学习的样子。 沙暴、灰条纹和白风暴在黎明外出巡逻，而火心和布莱肯弗则带着他们的学徒巡视领地。 火心发现自己在曾经熟悉的小路上格外隐蔽地移动着，阴影笼罩着他，他随时都担心会与森林里的黑影面对面。 他一直远离蛇岩城，不愿意让两个新徒弟冒险去那个该死的地方。 他知道，他很快就得对潜伏在那里的威胁采取行动了，但他要等到“丢脸”康复后，才能告诉他们到底是什么袭击了她。 火心的内心深处不禁在想，

even when they knew, his warriors would be able to deal with it. "What's over there?" Tawnypaw flicked her tail at the part of the forest on the other side of the Thunderpath. "That's ShadowClan territory," Brackenfur told her. "Can you smell their scent?" A chill breeze was carrying the scent of ShadowClan toward them. Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw opened their mouths to taste it. "We've smelled that before," announced Tawnypaw. "Oh?" Brackenfur shot a startled glance at Fireheart. "When Darkstripe brought us to the border to meet our father," explained Bramblepaw. "I spotted them." Fireheart wanted Brackenfur to know that this wasn't news to him. "I suppose we can't blame Tigerstar for wanting to see them," he added, forcing himself to be charitable. Brackenfur didn't reply, but he looked faintly worried, as if he shared Fireheart's misgivings about Tigerstar's relationship with these ThunderClan kits.

即使他们知道，他的战士也能对付。 “那边是什么？”唐柏朝雷道另一边的森林甩了甩尾巴。 “那是影子部落的地盘。”布拉肯弗告诉她。 “你能闻到它们的气味吗？”凉风带着影族的气味朝他们吹来。 蓝爪和紫爪张开嘴尝了尝。 “我们以前就闻到过。”汤柏宣布。 “哦?”布莱肯弗吃惊地瞥了火心一眼。 “当黑条带我们到边境去见我们父亲的时候。” “我发现了他们。”火心想让布莱肯弗知道，这对他来说并不新鲜。 “我想我们不能责怪虎星想要看他们，”他补充说，强迫自己仁慈一点。 布莱肯弗没有回答，但他看起来有些担心，好像他和火心一样，对虎星和这些雷霆军团装备的关系感到担忧。

"Can we go over there now and see our father?" Tawnypaw asked eagerly. "No!" Brackenfur sounded shocked. "Clan cats don't go into each other's territory. If a patrol caught us, there would be big trouble." "Not if we told them Tigerstar's our father," Bramblepaw insisted. "He wanted to see us last time." "Brackenfur told you no," Fireheart snapped. "And if I catch either of you setting one paw across the border, I'll have your tails off!" Tawnypaw jumped back as if she thought he was going to carry out the threat there and then. Bramblepaw's amber eyes searched Fireheart's face for several heartbeats. "Fireheart," he meowed hesitantly, "there's something else, isn't there? Why will no cat talk to us about our father? Why did he leave ThunderClan?" Fireheart stared down at his apprentice. He couldn't see any way of avoiding such a direct question. Long ago, he had promised Goldenflower that he would tell her kits the truth, but he had hoped for a bit more time to think out exactly what he would say.

“我们现在能去看看我们的父亲吗？”汤爷爷急切地问。 “不!”布莱肯弗听起来很震惊。 “同族猫不会进入彼此的领地。 如果巡逻队抓住了我们，麻烦就大了。” “除非我们告诉他们虎星是我们的父亲。” “他上次想见我们。” “布莱肯弗告诉你不行。”火心厉声说。 “如果我抓到你们中的任何一个伸出一只爪子越界，我就把你们的尾巴割下来！”唐婆往后退了一跳，好像她以为他会马上实施威胁似的。 蓝爪琥珀色的眼睛在火心的脸上搜寻了好几次心跳。 “火心，”他吞吞吐吐地叫道，“还有别的东西，是不是？ 为什么没有猫跟我们谈论我们的父亲？ 他为什么要离开雷霆家族？”火心凝视着他的徒弟。 他想不出任何办法来回避这样一个直接的问题。 很久以前，他就答应过金花，他会告诉她的孩子真相，但他希望多一点时间来考虑他到底该说什么。

He exchanged a quick glance with Brackenfur, and the younger warrior murmured, "If you don't tell them, some other cat will." He was right, Fireheart realized. The time had come for him to fulfill his promise to Goldenflower. Clearing his throat, he meowed, "All right. Let's find a place to rest and I'll tell you." He retreated several rabbit-hops from the Thunderpath until he came to a dip in the ground sheltered by a few clumps of fern, brown and broken now in the frosts of leaf-bare. The two apprentices followed, their eyes wide and curious. Fireheart checked that there was no smell of dog before settling down in a patch of dry grass, tucking his paws under his chest. Brackenfur remained at the top of the slope, keeping watch for danger, from the dog or from ShadowClan territory so close by. "Before I tell you about your father," Fireheart began, "I want you to remember that ThunderClan is proud of you. You'll both make fine warriors. What I'm going to say now won't make any difference to that."

他和布拉肯弗迅速交换了一下眼色，年轻的战士低声说：“如果你不告诉他们，其他的猫会告诉他们的。” 他是对的，火心意识到。 他履行对金花的诺言的时候到了。 他清了清喉咙，喵喵叫道：“好吧。 我们找个地方休息一下，我再告诉你。” 他从雷道上往后退了好几步，直到他来到一个有几丛蕨类植物掩护的地方，这些蕨类植物现在已经变成褐色，在光秃秃的叶子的霜冻中已经破碎了。 两个学徒跟着，眼睛睁得大大的，充满好奇。 火心核实了一下，没有狗的气味，然后在一块干草地上坐了下来，把爪子塞到胸口下面。 Brackenfur一直呆在斜坡顶上，警惕着危险，无论是狗还是影族的地盘，都近在咫尺。 “在我告诉你关于你父亲的事之前，”火心开始说，“我希望你记住，雷霆氏族以你为荣。 你们都能成为优秀的战士。 我现在要说什么都不会改变这一点。”

The apprentices' curiosity changed to uneasiness as they listened. Fireheart knew they must be wondering what was coming next. "Tigerstar is a great warrior," he went on. "And he always wanted to be leader of a Clan. Before he left ThunderClan, he was deputy." Bramblepaw's eyes glowed excitedly. "When I'm a warrior, I'd like to be deputy too." Fireheart's fur prickled at this evidence of his apprentice's ambition, so like Tigerstar's. "Be quiet and listen." Bramblepaw dipped his head obediently. "As I said, Tigerstar has always been a great warrior," Fireheart continued, forcing each word into the cold air. "But there was a fight with RiverClan over Sunningrocks, and Tigerstar used the battle to kill Redtail, who was the ThunderClan deputy then. He blamed a RiverClan warrior, but we found out what really happened." He paused. Both apprentices were staring at him with disbelief and horror in their eyes. "You mean…he killed a cat of his own Clan?" Tawnypaw faltered.

学徒们听着，好奇变成了不安。 火心知道他们一定在想接下来会发生什么。 “虎星是个伟大的战士，”他接着说。 “他一直想成为一个部落的领袖。 在他离开霹雳氏族之前，他是副警长。” 蓝爪的眼睛兴奋地发光。 “当我成为一名战士时，我也想当副手。” 火心对他徒弟的野心感到恼火，就像虎星一样。 “安静听着。”蓝爪乖乖地低下头。 “就像我说的，虎星一直是一个伟大的战士。”火心继续说，把每个字都逼进了冷空气里。 “但在与河族争夺太阳岩时发生了一场战斗，虎星利用这场战斗杀死了当时雷霆族的副手红尾巴。 他把责任推给了河族战士，但我们查明了真相。” 他停顿了一下。两个学徒都用怀疑和恐惧的眼神盯着他。 “你是说……他杀了自己家族的一只猫？”Tawnypaw摇摇欲坠。