Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 Firestar paused at the top of the hollow before leading his cats down to the Gathering. The night was still. Clouds were building up on the horizon, so that Firestar had begun to wonder if StarClan was going to hide the moon to show that it was not their will for the Gathering to take place. But for now the moon rose high above the clouds, and the scent of cats drifted up to Firestar from the hollow below. "Only WindClan so far," murmured Graystripe, who was crouched at Firestar's shoulder. "What's keeping the others?" Firestar shrugged. "StarClan knows. Personally, I wouldn't care if Tigerstar never showed up." He signaled with his tail and led his warriors as they raced down through the bushes and into the clearing at the center of the hollow. As Graystripe had said, only WindClan cats were there. Firestar spotted their leader, Tallstar, seated with his deputy, Deadfoot, near the base of the Great Rock. "Greetings, Firestar," Tallstar mewed, dipping his head courteously as Firestar approached.

第十二章火星在山谷的顶端停了下来，然后领着他的猫下山去集会。 夜是寂静的。地平线上乌云密布，所以Firestar开始怀疑StarClan是否会把月亮藏起来，以表明这不是他们的意愿。 但现在月亮升到了云层之上，猫的气味从下面的山谷飘到了火星镇。 “到目前为止只有风氏族。”灰条纹低声说，他蹲在火星的肩膀上。 “是什么耽搁了其他人？”Firestar耸耸肩。 “StarClan知道。就我个人而言，我不在乎虎星是否出现。” 他用尾巴做了个手势，带领他的战士们穿过灌木丛，来到山谷中央的空地上。 正如灰条所说，那里只有风氏族的猫。 火星发现了他们的首领高星和他的副手死脚坐在巨石的底部。 “你好，火星。”高星叫道，当火星走近时，他礼貌地低下头。

"Tornear told me he met you on your way to Highstones. We grieve for Bluestar." "So do her own Clan," Firestar responded, bowing his head in turn. "She was a noble leader." "But you will be a worthy successor," meowed the black-and-white tom, surprising Firestar by the warmth of his tone. "You've served your Clan well." "I-I hope to serve it even better in future," Firestar stammered. Tallstar nodded once more in response, and sprang up to the top of the rock. Before following him, Firestar glanced around at his own cats. They were already circling among the WindClan warriors and beginning to exchange their news. Firestar was pleased to see that the two Clans seemed friendly toward each other, in spite of the recent clash over missing prey. Worried as he was about ShadowClan and RiverClan, it was good to think that he might find allies in WindClan. Waving with his tail toward Onewhisker and his apprentice, Gorsepaw, who were settling down to talk with Sandstorm, Firestar jumped up to stand beside Tallstar on the top of the Great

“托尼尔告诉我，他在你去海斯通的路上遇到了你。 我们为蓝星哀悼。”“她自己的氏族也是如此。”火星回答道，并依次低下头。 “她是一位高尚的领袖。”“但你会是一个有价值的继任者，”黑白相间的汤姆喵喵地叫着，他温暖的语气让Firestar感到惊讶。 “你为氏族服务得很好。” “我希望将来能更好地为它服务，”Firestar结结巴巴地说。 高星再次点了点头作为回应，跳上了岩石的顶端。 在跟随他之前，火星扫视了一下自己的猫。 他们已经绕在风氏族的战士中间，开始交换消息。 Firestar很高兴地看到两个部落似乎彼此友好，尽管最近因为丢失猎物而发生冲突。 虽然他对暗影氏族和河流氏族很担心，但想到他可能会在风氏族中找到盟友，他还是很高兴的。 火星朝一须和他的徒弟戈瑟爪挥了挥尾巴，他们正坐下来和沙暴谈话。火星跳起来，站在高星身边，站在大山顶上

Rock. He had stood here once before, when he took Bluestar's place while she was ill after the fire, but he was still not used to looking down on his cats from such a great height, nor seeing their eyes gleam pale from reflected moonlight as they stared up at him. Firestar's tension increased as he thought about what was to come, and the confrontation with Tigerstar that would surely happen before moonset. "ShadowClan and RiverClan are late," he remarked. Tallstar twitched his ears in agreement. "Clouds threaten the moon," he pointed out. A trace of anxiety crossed his face. "Perhaps StarClan is angry." Looking up, Firestar saw that the clouds he had noticed earlier were spreading farther across the sky. The air tasted damp, and his fur prickled with expectation. What would it mean, Firestar wondered, if StarClan veiled the moon and Tigerstar was left to plot in secret until the next Gathering?

岩石。火灾过后，蓝星生病，他替她接替她的位置，但他还是不习惯从这么高的地方俯视他的猫，也不习惯它们仰视他时，在月光的反射下，眼睛闪着苍白的光芒。 当他想到即将发生的事情，以及与虎星的对峙肯定会在月落之前发生时，火星的紧张感增加了。 “影族和河族都迟到了。” 塔斯特扭动着耳朵表示同意。 “云威胁着月亮，”他指出。 一丝焦虑掠过他的脸。 “也许StarClan生气了。” 抬头一看，火星看到他之前注意到的云在天空中散开得更远了。 空气有点潮湿，他的皮毛因期待而刺痛。 Firestar想知道，如果StarClan遮住了月亮，而Tigerstar被留在那里秘密策划，直到下一次聚会，这意味着什么？

"Tallstar," he began, deciding that the time had come to confide in the WindClan leader and ask for his advice. "I'm worried about what Tigerstar might be planning—" He never finished. A triumphant yowling from the top of the hollow interrupted him, and a heartbeat later more cats raced into the clearing as ShadowClan and RiverClan arrived together, their cats fanning out below him. Tigerstar reached the top of the Great Rock in a single bound, and Leopardstar scrambled up beside him. "Cats of all Clans!" Tigerstar declared, not waiting to greet Tallstar and Firestar or discuss which of the leaders should speak first. "I have news for you. Listen well, for great change is coming to the forest." Firestar stared at the ShadowClan leader in confusion. When Tigerstar first mentioned news, he had thought for a moment he was referring to Mistyfoot and Stonefur's half-Clan heritage. Yet that would not merit such a spectacular arrival or make Tigerstar talk about great change. Below them in the clearing there was dead silence. Al l the cats stared up at the Great Rock,

“高星，”他开始说，决定是时候向风氏族首领吐露心声，征求他的建议了。 “我担心虎星可能会有什么计划——”他没说完。 一声胜利的嚎叫打断了他的话，一眨眼的时间，更多的猫冲进空地，影子氏族和大河氏族一起赶到，他们的猫在他下面散开。 虎星一跃就爬上了巨石顶，豹星也爬到了他身边。 “所有氏族的猫！”虎星宣布，没有等待欢迎高星和火星或讨论谁应该先发言的领导人。 “我有消息要告诉你。听好了，森林里要发生巨大的变化了。” 火星困惑地盯着暗影部落的首领。 当虎星第一次提到新闻时，他一度以为自己指的是迷雾脚和斯通弗的半氏族血统。 然而，这并不值得如此壮观的到来，也不会让虎星谈论巨大的变化。 他们下面的空地上一片死寂。 所有的猫都抬头盯着巨石，

their eyes wide as they waited for Tigerstar to explain. Every hair on Firestar's pelt began to bristle, and he did not know whether it was due to the tension of the assembled warriors or the threatening rain clouds. "Great change," Tigerstar repeated. "And StarClan has shown me that it is ShadowClan's task to prepare every cat in the forest to meet it." "Every cat?" Firestar heard the quiet mutter from Tallstar. The WindClan leader took a step forward. "Tigerstar—" "ShadowClan has the favor of StarClan," Tigerstar swept on, ignoring the interruption. "We are blessed because we survived the sickness, and I have received the blessing of our warrior ancestors most of all because it was my task to restore the Clan and make it great again." Oh, yes? Firestar thought. He refused to believe that StarClan were showing favor to Tigerstar after all that he had done to his birth Clan. Glancing down into the clearing, he looked for Runningnose. The ShadowClan medicine cat had done his best to support his Clan during Nightstar's ill-fated leadership, and Firestar had an

他们睁大眼睛等着虎星解释。 火星的皮毛上的每一根毛都开始竖起来，他不知道这是由于聚集在一起的战士们的紧张，还是由于雨云的威胁。 “变化太大了。”虎星重复道。 “而StarClan告诉我，ShadowClan的任务是让森林里的每只猫都做好迎接它的准备。” “每一只猫?”火星听到了高星的低语。 风氏族首领向前走了一步。 “ShadowClan得到了StarClan的青睐，”Tigerstar继续说道，没有理会打断。 “我们很幸运，因为我们从疾病中活了下来，我得到了我们战士祖先的祝福，最重要的是，我的任务是恢复氏族，让它再次伟大。” 哦,是吗?Firestar思想。 他不相信星族会在虎星对自己出生的氏族所做的一切之后对虎星表示好感。 他朝下面的空地瞥了一眼，寻找流鼻涕。 暗影族的药猫在夜之星不幸的领导下尽了最大的努力来支持他的部落，而火之星有一个

idea that he was not entirely happy with Tigerstar as the old tom's replacement. He wondered what Runningnose thought of the announcement Tigerstar had just made, but though his gaze searched the clearing carefully he could see no sign of the medicine cat. Left at home, Firestar asked himself, so he can't deny what Tigerstar claims? At the same time, he couldn't help noticing that Stonefur was also missing, and he wondered if the RiverClan deputy was in more trouble because of his half-Clan parentage, and what he thought about his leader's decision to ally her Clan with Tigerstar. One cat Firestar did spot in the clearing below was Darkstripe. The former ThunderClan warrior was sitting beside Blackfoot, the ShadowClan deputy, and his eyes shone with admiration as he looked up at Tigerstar. It was clear that he had gone straight to his old ally after being driven out of ThunderClan. "All of you know," Tigerstar went on, "that changes have already come to us—unwelcome changes beyond our control. Last leaf-bare much

他对虎星代替老汤姆并不完全满意。 他不知道流鼻涕对虎星刚刚宣布的消息有什么看法，虽然他仔细地扫视了一下空地，但还是没有看到药猫的踪影。 被留在家里，火星问自己，所以他不能否认虎星的说法？ 与此同时，他不由自主地注意到斯通弗也不见了，他想知道河流氏族的代表是否因为他的半氏族血统而陷入了更多的麻烦，以及他对他的首领决定与虎星结盟的决定有什么看法。 “火星”在下面的空地上发现了一只叫“暗条纹”的猫。 这位前雷霆族战士坐在影族副手黑脚旁边，他抬头看着虎星，眼睛里闪烁着钦佩的光芒。 很明显，在被驱逐出雷霆氏族后，他直接投靠了他的老盟友。 “你们都知道，”虎星接着说，“变化已经降临到我们身上了——不受欢迎的变化超出了我们的控制。 最后一片叶子——光秃秃的