Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 Watery shafts of light sliced through the bare trees as Fireheart carried his leader to her final resting place. With his teeth clenched firmly in her scruff, he retraced the route the dog pack had taken as the brave warriors of ThunderClan lured them to the gorge and their destruction. His whole body felt numb, and his head spun with the terrible realization that Bluestar was dead. Without his leader, the forest itself seemed different, even stranger to Fireheart than the day he had first ventured into it as a kittypet. No thing was real; he felt as if the trees and rocks could dissolve like mist within a moment. A vast, unnatural silence covered everything. With the rational part of his mind Fireheart realized that all the prey had been scared away by the rampaging dog pack, but in the grip of his grief it seemed that even the forest was stunned into mourning for Bluestar. The scene at the gorge replayed over and over in his head. He saw again the slavering jaws of the dog who led the pack, and felt its sharp teeth meet in his scruff. He remembered how Bluestar

第一章水一般的光柱穿过光秃秃的树木，火心带着他的首领走向她最后的安息之地。 他紧咬着她的颈背，沿着狗群被勇敢的雷族战士引诱到峡谷并毁灭他们时走过的路线往回走。 他整个身体都麻木了，他的头随着蓝星已经死了的可怕意识而旋转。 没有了他的领袖，森林本身似乎变得不同了，对火心来说，甚至比他第一次作为一只小猫冒险进入森林的那天更陌生了。 没有什么是真实的；他觉得树木和岩石会像薄雾一样瞬间消失。 一片巨大的、不自然的寂静笼罩着一切。 火心理智地意识到，所有的猎物都被狂奔的狗群吓跑了，但在他悲痛的控制下，似乎连森林都为蓝星感到震惊。 峡谷的情景在他的脑海里一遍又一遍地回放。 他又看见了领头的那条狗的大口大口地流着口水，感觉到它的尖牙在他的颈背上相遇了。 他记得蓝星是如何

had appeared out of nowhere, flinging herself at the dog, driving it—and herself—over the edge of the gorge and into the river. He flinched again at the icy shock of the water as he leaped in to rescue his drowning leader, and their hopeless struggles until two RiverClan warriors, Mistyfoot and Stonefur, came to help then. Most of all, Fireheart recalled his dismay and disbelief as he crouched beside his leader on the riverbank, and realized that she had sacrificed her last life to save him and all of ThunderClan from the dog pack. As he bore Bluestar's body home, with the help of Mistyfoot and Stonefur, he kept pausing to scent the air for fresh traces of dog, and he had already sent his friend Graystripe to scout the territory on either side of their trail, searching for signs that the dogs had caught any of the ThunderClan cats in their desperate race for the gorge. So far, to Fireheart's relief, they had found nothing. Now, skirting a bramble thicket, Fireheart set down his lifeless leader once more and raised his head to drink in the air, thankful to taste only the

不知从哪里冒出来，扑向那条狗，把它——也包括她自己——赶出了峡谷边缘，掉进了河里。 当他跳进水里去救他溺水的领袖时，冰冷的海水又让他退缩了，他们绝望的挣扎，直到两位河族战士，迷雾脚和石弗，来帮助他们。 最重要的是，火心回忆起他在河边蹲在领袖身边时的沮丧和难以置信，意识到她牺牲了自己最后的生命，从狗群中拯救了他和所有的雷霆氏族。 当他把蓝星的尸体抬回家时，在雾脚和石毛的帮助下，他不停地停下来，嗅嗅空气中是否有新的狗的踪迹，他已经派朋友灰条纹去侦察他们踪迹两侧的领地，寻找那些狗是否抓住了那些拼命冲向峡谷的雷族猫。 到目前为止，令火心欣慰的是，他们什么也没找到。 现在，火心绕过一丛荆棘，再次放下他那没有生命的首领，抬起头来对着空气喝酒，庆幸自己只尝到了

clean scents of the forest. A moment later, Graystripe appeared around a clump of dead bracken. "Everything's fine, Fireheart," he reported. "Plenty of broken undergrowth, but that's all." "Good," Fireheart meowed. His hope rose that the dogs that had escaped the fall into the gorge had fled in terror, and the forest once again belonged to the four Clans of wild cats. His Clan had lived through three terrible moons, when they had become prey in their own territory, but they had survived. "Let's keep going. I want to check that the camp is safe before the Clan comes back." He and the RiverClan warriors took up Bluestar's body again and carried it through the trees. At the top of the ravine that led down to the camp entrance, Firestar paused. He briefly remembered the early morning, when he and his warriors had followed the trail of dead rabbits that Tigerstar had laid to lure the dog pack to the ThunderClan camp. At the end of the trail they had found the body of the gentle queen Brindleface, slaughtered to give the savage dogs a taste for cat blood. But now every thing seemed

森林的清新气息。 过了一会儿，灰条出现在一丛枯死的蕨菜旁。 “一切都很好，火心。” “有很多破碎的矮树丛，但仅此而已。” “很好。”火心叫道。他的希望上升了，那些从峡谷里逃出来的狗已经惊恐地逃走了，森林再次属于四个野猫家族。 他的氏族经历了三个可怕的月亮，他们在自己的领土上成了猎物，但他们活了下来。 “让我们继续前进。我想在部落回来之前检查一下营地是否安全。” 他和河族的战士们再次抬起蓝星的尸体，带着它穿过树林。 在通往营地入口的峡谷顶端，火星停了下来。 他短暂地想起了那天清晨，他和他的战士们沿着虎星为引诱狗群来到雷霆氏族营地而埋下的死兔子的踪迹。 在小路的尽头，他们发现了温文尔雅的斑脸王后的尸体，她被杀了，是为了让野狗尝尝猫血。 但现在一切似乎

peaceful, and when Fireheart tasted the air again he could detect only cat scent coming from the camp. "Wait here," he meowed. "I'm going to take a look." "I'll come with you," Graystripe offered instantly. "No." It was Stonefur who spoke, flicking out his tail to bar the gray warrior's way. "I think Fireheart needs to do this alone." Flashing a grateful look at the RiverClan deputy, Fireheart began picking his way down the ravine, his ears pricked for any sound of trouble ahead. But the strange silence still reigned over the forest. As he emerged from the gorse tunnel into the clearing, Fireheart paused to glance warily around. It was possible that one or more of the dogs had never made it to the gorge, or that Tigerstar had sent ShadowClan warriors to take over the camp. But all was quiet. Fireheart's fur prickled with the strangeness of seeing the camp deserted like this, yet there was no sign of danger, and still no scent of dogs or ShadowClan.

当火心再次品尝空气时，他只闻到了从营地传来的猫味。 “在这儿等着。”他叫道。“我要去看看。” “我和你一起去。”格雷斯特立刻说。 “没有。”说话的是斯通弗，它甩了甩尾巴，挡住了灰衣武士的去路。 “我认为火心需要独自完成这件事。” 火心感激地看了河族的副手一眼，开始沿着峡谷小心翼翼地走下去，耳朵竖起，留心前方有什么麻烦的声音。 但奇怪的寂静仍然笼罩着森林。 当他走出金雀花隧道来到空地上时，火心停下来警惕地环顾四周。 可能有一条或多条狗根本没能到达峡谷，也可能是虎星派了影族战士来接管营地。 但一切都很安静。看到营地如此荒凉，火心的毛都刺痛了，但却没有任何危险的迹象，也没有狗或影族的气味。

To be sure the camp was safe, he rapidly checked the dens and the nursery. Memories came unbidden: the bewilderment of the Clan as he told then about the dog pack, the heart-pounding terror of the chase through the forest with the breath of the pack leader hot on his fur. At the foot of the Highrock, listening to the wind whispering through the trees, Fireheart thought back to the time Tigerstar had stood here, boldly facing his Clan as they discovered the true depth of his treachery. He had sworn undying vengeance as he was sent into exile, and Fireheart was sure that his blood thirsty attempt to set the dog pack on the cats of ThunderClan would not be his last attempt to fulfill his oath. Last of all Fireheart prowled cautiously through the fern tunnel to Cinderpelt's den. Glancing through the entrance, he saw the medicine cat's healing herbs neatly ranged beside one wall. The strongest memory yet flooded over him, of Spottedleaf and Yellowfang, who had been ThunderClan medicine cats before Cinderpelt. Fireheart had loved them both, and grief for them swept over him again to mingle

为了确保营地安全，他迅速检查了洞穴和育儿室。 回忆不请自来：当他讲述狗群的故事时，氏族的困惑，在森林里追逐时，狼群首领的气息烫着他的皮毛，让他感到心跳加速。 在高岩脚下，听着风在树林间的低语，火心回想起虎星站在这里，勇敢地面对他的家族，当他们发现他背叛的真正深度时。 他在被流放时曾发誓要报仇雪恨，而火心确信，他让狗群去猎杀雷霆氏族的猫的嗜血尝试，不会是他履行誓言的最后一次尝试。 最后，火心小心翼翼地穿过蕨类植物的隧道，来到灰姑娘的洞穴。 他从入口瞥了一眼，看到药猫的草药整齐地摆放在一面墙旁边。 最强烈的记忆涌上心头，关于斑点叶和黄牙的记忆，在灰姑娘之前，它们是霹雳家族的药猫。 火心曾经爱过他们俩，而对他们的悲伤又一次席卷了他

with his grief for his leader. Bluestar is dead, he told them silently. Is she with you now, in StarClan? Retracing his steps along the fern tunnel, he returned to the top of the ravine. Graystripe was standing on watch while Mistyfoot and Stonefur gently groomed the dead leader's body. "Everything's fine," Fireheart announced. "Graystripe, I want you to go to Sunningrocks now. Tell the Clan that Bluestar is dead, but nothing more. I'll explain every thing when I see them. Just let them know that it's safe to come home." Graystripe's yellow eyes brightened. "On my way, Fireheart." He spun around and tore off through the forest, heading for Sunningrocks, where the Clan had gone to hide while the dogs were following Tigerstar's trail of rabbit blood to their camp. Stonefur, crouching beside Bluestar's body, let out a purr of amusement. "It's easy to see where Graystripe's loyalties lie," he remarked. "Yes," Mistyfoot agreed. "No cat ever really thought he would stay in RiverClan."

带着对他的领袖的悲痛。 蓝星死了，他默默地告诉他们。 她现在和你在《星际部落》里吗？ 他沿着蕨类植物的隧道往回走，回到了峡谷的顶端。 灰条站在那里放哨，雾脚和石弗轻轻地整理首领的尸体。 “一切都好。”火心宣布。 “灰条，我要你现在就去桑宁岩。 告诉部落，蓝星已经死了，仅此而已。 我见到他们后会向他们解释的。 只要让他们知道回家是安全的。” 灰条的黄眼睛亮了起来。 “我这就去，火心。”他转过身，飞快地穿过森林，向太阳岩走去。狗儿们顺着虎星留下的兔血踪迹，找到了他们的营地，氏族就藏在那里。 斯通弗蹲在蓝星的尸体旁，发出一声逗乐的咕噜声。 “很容易看出格雷斯特对谁忠诚，”他评论道。 “是的。”“没有一只猫真的想过自己会留在河族。”