Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 The forest was dark. No moon shone down that night, and when Fireheart looked up he could see nothing but a faint pattern of branches against the sky. The trees looked taller than he remembered, hemming him in. Brambles and ivy tangled around his paws. "Spottedleaf!" he mewed. "Spottedleaf, where are you?" There was no answer to his cries, only the rush of water from somewhere ahead of him. He was afraid of stepping forward and finding nothing but black emptiness under his paws as the raging torrent swept him down with it. In some part of his mind Fireheart knew he was dreaming. He had lain down in the warriors' den in the hope that he would be able to meet with Spottedleaf in sleep. When Fireheart had first come to ThunderClan, Spottedleaf had been the medicine cat, but she had been killed by one of Brokentail's vicious followers. Now she visited Fireheart in his dreams, so that once again he could find in her gentle wisdom the answers to much that troubled him.

第六章森林里一片漆黑。 那天晚上没有月光，火心抬头一看，只见天空映衬着一片模糊的树枝图案。 树木看起来比他记忆中的要高，把他围了起来。 荆棘和常春藤缠绕着他的爪子。 “斑点叶！”他叫道。“斑点叶子，你在哪里？”没有人回应他的呼喊，只有从他前面某个地方传来的哗哗的水声。 他害怕向前一走，脚掌下除了黑色的空虚什么也找不到，而汹涌的洪流把他卷了下去。 在他心里的某个地方，火心知道他在做梦。 他躺在勇士的洞穴里，希望能在睡梦中见到斑点叶。 当火心第一次来到雷霆氏族时，斑点叶是那只药猫，但她被布罗肯泰尔的一个恶毒的追随者杀死了。 现在她在火心的梦中出现了，这样他就可以再一次从她温柔的智慧中找到困扰他的答案。

But now, though he searched more and more desperately in the black forest, he could not find her. "Spottedleaf!" he cried again. This was not the first time in his recent dreams that she had been invisible to him. The last time, he had only heard her voice, and he fought with the terrible fear that she was drawing away from him. "Spottedleaf, don't leave me!" he begged. A heavy weight landed on him from behind. Fireheart writhed on the forest floor, trying to free himself. Then the scent of another cat was in his nostrils, and he opened his eyes to find himself scuffling in his mossy bedding with Dustpelt cuffing him around the shoulders. "What's the matter with you?" Dustpelt growled. "No cat can get a wink of sleep with you yowling like that." "Leave him alone." Sandstorm put her head up from her nest, blinking sleep from her eyes. "It was only a dream. It's not his fault." "You would say that," Dustpelt sneered. He turned his back on them and made his way out through the overhanging branches. Fireheart sat up and began grooming scraps of

可是现在，尽管他在黑森林里越来越拼命地寻找，还是找不到她。 “斑点叶！”他又叫了起来。 这已经不是他最近第一次梦见她不见了。 最后一次，他只听到了她的声音，他拼命挣扎，生怕她会从他身边走开。 “斑点叶，不要离开我！”他恳求道。 一个重物从后面落在他身上。 火心在森林的地面上扭动着，试图挣脱。 接着，另一只猫的气味进入了他的鼻孔，他睁开眼睛，发现自己在长满青苔的被褥上挣扎着，尘土滚滚在他的肩膀上抽打着。 “你怎么啦？”Dustpelt咆哮道。 “你这样嚎叫，猫是睡不着的。” “别管他。”沙暴把她的头从巢里抬起，把睡意从她的眼睛里赶走。 “这只是一个梦。这不是他的错。” “你是这么说的，”达斯特珀特冷笑着说。 他转身背对着他们，从悬垂的树枝间走了出去。 火心坐了起来，开始整理碎片

moss out of his coat. Through the charred branches overhead, he could see that the sun was already up. Whitestorm must have left already with the dawn patrol; there were no other warriors sleeping in the den. The darkness of his dream was fading, but he could not forget it. Why had the forest seemed so black and terrifying? Why had Spottedleaf not come to him, not even as a scent or the sound of her voice? "Are you all right?" asked Sandstorm, anxiety showing in her green eyes. Fireheart shook himself. "I'm fine," he meowed. "Let's go and hunt." The day was bright, though the chill of leaf-fall was in the air. Fireheart was relieved to see that grass and ferns were growing back thickly as the forest recovered. If only the fine weather would last! Then the growth could continue and prey would return. He led the way up the ravine and through the forest toward Tallpines. Since the fire, most cats had avoided the stretch of territory closest to Treecutplace, where the devastation was worst.

他外套上的青苔掉了。透过头顶烧焦的树枝，他看到太阳已经升起来了。 白风暴肯定已经和黎明巡逻队一起离开了；洞穴里没有别的战士睡觉。 他梦中的黑暗正在消退，但他无法忘记。 为什么森林看起来如此黑暗和可怕？ 为什么斑点叶没有来找他，甚至连她的气味和声音都没有？ “你还好吗？”沙暴问道，绿色的眼睛里流露出焦虑。 火心抖了抖身子。“我很好，”他喵喵地说。 “我们去打猎吧。”虽然空气中还弥漫着落叶的寒意，但天气晴朗。 火心欣慰地看到，随着森林的恢复，草和蕨类植物又长得茂密起来。 但愿好天气能持续下去！然后继续生长，猎物又会回来。 他带路上了峡谷，穿过森林，朝高林走去。 自火灾发生以来，大多数猫都避开了离Treecutplace最近的区域，那里的破坏最严重。

The fire had started there, and whole stretches of the forest had been reduced to nothing but gray ash, dotted with tree stumps. Fireheart wondered if there was a chance of prey there yet, but as he and Sandstorm approached the edge of Tallpines he guessed that he was going to be disappointed. The pines, charred to tapering trunks, were still a jumble, with fallen trees caught up against others that still stood. The few remaining branches stirred uneasily in the breeze. The ground was black, and no birds sang. "It's useless here," Sandstorm meowed. "Let's go and—" She broke off as another cat appeared through the trees, a small tabby-and-white shape stepping nervously over the debris of the fire. With a gasp of surprise Fireheart recognized his sister, Princess. She spotted him at the same moment and bounded toward him, calling, "Fireheart! Fireheart!" "Who's that?" Sandstorm spat. "She'll scare off all the prey between here and Fourtrees." Before Fireheart could reply, his sister came up to him. She was purring as if she would never

大火就是从那里开始的，整片森林都变成了一片灰色的灰烬，上面点缀着一些树桩。 火心不知道那里是否还有机会找到猎物，但当他和沙暴接近高pines边缘时，他猜想自己要失望了。 松树烧焦了，树干变细了，仍然是一片混乱，倒下的树和还站着的树交错在一起。 剩下的几根树枝在微风中不安地摆动着。 地面一片漆黑，没有鸟儿歌唱。 “在这里没用。”沙暴叫道。 “我们走吧——”她停了下来，这时另一只猫从树林里钻了出来，那是一只斑白相间的小猫，紧张地踩在火堆的残骸上。 火心惊讶地倒吸了一口气，认出了他的妹妹公主。 与此同时，她发现了他，朝他跳过去，喊道：“火心！Fireheart !”“那是谁?”沙尘暴口角。 “她会吓跑从这里到四棵树之间的所有猎物。” 火心还没来得及回答，妹妹就走到他跟前。 她咕噜咕噜地叫着，好像永远也不会

stop, pressing her face against his and covering him with licks. "Fireheart, you're alive!" she mewed. "I was so frightened when I saw the fire! I thought you and Cloudpaw were dead." "Yes, well, I'm okay," Fireheart meowed awkwardly, giving Princess a quick lick in return and taking a step back, acutely conscious of Sandstorm's eyes on him. "And Cloudpaw's fine too." Glancing at Sandstorm, he saw that a look of disgust had appeared on the ginger warrior's face and her fur was fluffed out. "That's a kittypet," she snarled. "She's got kittypet scent all over her." Princess gave her a scared look and edged closer to Fireheart. "Is…is this one of your friends, Fireheart?" she stammered. "Yes, this is Sandstorm. Sandstorm, this is my sister, Princess, Cloudpaw's mother." Sandstorm took a step or two away from them, though she let the fur lie flat on her neck again. "Cloudpaw's mother?" she repeated. "She still sees you both, then?" She shot a glance at Fireheart, clearly wondering how much he had told Princess about Cloudpaw's escapade with the Twolegs.

停下来，把她的脸压在他的脸上，舔他。 “火心，你还活着！” “当我看到火的时候，我吓坏了！”我还以为你和云爪都死了呢。” “是的，好吧，我没事。”火心笨拙地喵喵叫着，给了公主一个快速舔作为回应，后退了一步，敏锐地意识到沙暴的眼睛在盯着他。 “云爪也很好。” 他瞥了沙暴一眼，看到姜黄色战士脸上露出厌恶的表情，她的毛也被弄松了。 “那是一只小猫，”她咆哮道。 “她浑身都是小猫的味道。” 公主惊恐地看了她一眼，慢慢靠近火心。 “这……这是你的朋友吗，火心？”她结结巴巴地说。 “是的，这是沙暴。沙暴，这是我妹妹，云爪的母亲。” 沙暴从他们身边走了一两步，但她又让毛皮平躺在脖子上。 “云爪的妈妈？”她重复道。 “那么，她还和你们两个见面吗？”她瞥了火心一眼，显然想知道他对公主讲了多少关于云爪和特力哥的事。

"Cloudpaw is doing really well," Fireheart meowed. "Isn't he?" He met Sandstorm's gaze, silently willing her not to say anything tactless about the wayward apprentice. "He hunts well," Sandstorm admitted. "And he's got the makings of a fine fighter." Princess didn't realize how much Sandstorm was leaving unsaid. Her eyes glowed with pride and she meowed, "I know he'll be a good warrior with Fireheart to mentor him." "But you haven't told me what you're doing out here," Fireheart mewed, eager to change the subject. "You're a long way from your Twoleg nest." "I was looking for you. I had to know what had happened to you and Cloudpaw," explained Princess. "I saw the fire from my garden, and then you didn't come to see me, and I thought—" "I'm sorry," Fireheart meowed. "I would have come, but we've been so busy since the fire. We have to rebuild the camp, and there's not much prey left in the forest. And I have more duties since I was made deputy." "You're deputy now? Of the whole Clan?

“云爪干得不错。”火心叫道。 “不是吗?”他迎着沙暴的目光，默默地希望她不要对这个任性的学徒说任何不得体的话。 “他猎得很好。”沙暴承认。 “他有成为一名优秀拳击手的素质。” 公主没有意识到沙暴还有多少话没说。 她的眼睛里闪烁着骄傲的光芒，她喵喵地叫道：“我知道有火心做他的导师，他会成为一名优秀的战士。” “可你还没告诉我你在这儿干什么呢。”火心叫道，急于改变话题。 “你离你的特沃莱格家太远了。” “我正在找你。我必须知道你和云爪发生了什么事。”公主解释说。 “我从我的花园里看到了火，然后你没有来看我，我想——”“对不起，”火心喵喵地说。 “我本来要来的，但火灾后我们太忙了。 我们得重建营地，森林里的猎物已经所剩无几了。 自从我当上了副手，我的职责就更多了。” “你现在是副手了？”整个氏族？