Chapter 22

CHAPTER 23 Firestar stared, speechless with shock, as Scourge turned away and disappeared through the lines of his own warriors. Silently the cats of BloodClan fell in behind him and vanished into the bushes with scarcely a rustle. Firestar tracked their departure through the movement of branches up the side of the hollow, and then they were gone. Firestar looked down at the body of Tigerstar. The huge tabby's legs were splayed and his teeth bared in a last snarl of defiance at death. The amber eyes that had smoldered with savage ambition were blank and sightless. Faced with the death of his enemy, Firestar knew he should feel triumphant. He had known for a long time now that the only hope for peace in the forest was the death of Tigerstar. But Firestar had always expected that he would be the cat that struck his enemy down, risking his own life in combat with the massive warrior. Instead, now that Tigerstar lay at his paws, staining them with his blood, he found himself struggling with the strangest feeling of all—grief. Tigerstar had

第二十三章火星惊愕得说不出话来，天灾转过身去，消失在他自己的战士队伍中。 血族的猫悄无声息地落在他身后，悄无声息地消失在灌木丛中。 火星通过山谷一侧树枝的移动追踪到他们的离去，然后他们就不见了。 火星低头看着虎星的尸体。 这只巨大的虎斑猫张开双腿，露出牙齿，发出最后的咆哮，以示对死亡的蔑视。 那对琥珀色的眼睛曾闪烁着野蛮的野心，现在却茫然无光了。 面对敌人的死亡，火星知道他应该感到胜利。 他早就知道，森林里和平的唯一希望就是虎星的死。 但火星一直期望他能成为打倒敌人的那只猫，冒着生命危险与这个庞大的战士战斗。 相反，现在虎星躺在他的爪子上，鲜血染红了爪子，他发现自己在一种最奇怪的悲伤情绪中挣扎。 Tigerstar有

received from StarClan all the strength, skill, and intelligence to make himself truly great, a legend among cats. But he had misused his gifts, murdered and lied and plotted revenge, until his ambition brought him to this terrible end. And nothing had been solved. The fate of every Clan still hung in the balance, and the tide of blood still flowed. We need your strength, Tigerstar, Firestar whispered. Just as we need every cat who can fight, to drive BloodClan out of the forest. He became aware that another cat was standing beside him, and he turned his head to see Graystripe. The rest of the ThunderClan cats were still drawn up in their battle lines at the far side of the clearing, with Tallstar and the WindClan warriors beside them. "Firestar?" Graystripe's yellow eyes were huge with fear. "Are you okay?" Firestar shook himself. "I will be. Don't worry, Graystripe. Come on—I need to talk to Tallstar." As they turned away, Graystripe glanced down at the dead ShadowClan leader and a shudder passed through him. "I never want to see anything

从星族那里获得了所有的力量、技巧和智慧，使自己真正伟大，成为猫界的传奇。 但他滥用了自己的天赋，杀人，撒谎，策划报复，直到他的野心把他带到了这个可怕的结局。 什么都没有解决。 每个氏族的命运仍然悬而未决，血潮仍然在流淌。 “我们需要你的力量，虎星。” 就像我们需要每一只会打架的猫，把血族赶出森林。 他意识到另一只猫站在他旁边，他转过头来，看到了灰条。 雷霆氏族的其余猫科动物仍然在空地的另一边排成战斗队形，高星和风氏族的战士在他们身边。 “Firestar ?”灰条的黄眼睛因恐惧而瞪得大大的。 “你还好吗？”火星抖了抖身子。 “我会的。别担心，灰条。 来吧，我要和塔尔斯塔谈谈。” 当他们转身离开时，灰条纹瞥了一眼死去的影子氏族首领，一阵颤抖传遍了他的全身。 “我什么都不想看

like that again," he meowed hoarsely. "If we don't get rid of Scourge, you probably will," Firestar replied. He paced slowly back toward the WindClan leader, using the time it took to cross the clearing to think. When he stood in front of Tallstar, he saw his own shock reflected in the eyes of the older cat. "I can't believe what I've just seen," the WindClan leader. "Nine lives gone—just like that." Firestar nodded. "No cat would blame you if you took your Clan and left the forest to find another place to live." He did not doubt Tallstar's courage, but felt unable to assume that he would stay to fight such a terrible enemy. Tallstar stiffened and his neck fur bristled. "WindClan was driven from the forest once," he hissed. "Never again. Our territory is ours, and we'll fight for it. Is ThunderClan with us?" Even before Firestar replied he heard a murmuring from his own cats, defiance and determination mingled together. "We'll fight," he promised. "And we'll be proud to stand side by

他嘶哑地叫道。 “如果我们不除掉天灾，你们可能会的。”火星回答。 他慢慢地向风氏族首领走去，利用穿过空地的时间思考。 当他站在Tallstar面前时，他看到自己的震惊反映在老猫的眼睛里。 “我简直不敢相信我刚刚看到的，”风氏族首领说。 “九条命就这样过去了。” Firestar点点头。“如果你带着你的家族离开森林去找别的地方住，没有猫会怪你的。” 他并不怀疑塔尔斯特的勇气，但他无法想象塔尔斯特会留下来与如此可怕的敌人作战。 塔斯达僵住了，脖子上的毛竖了起来。 “风氏族曾经被赶出森林。”他嘶嘶地说。 “再也没有。我们的领土是我们的，我们会为之战斗。 雷霆战队跟我们在一起吗？”还没等火星回答，他就听到自己的猫在嘀咕，蔑视和决心交织在一起。 “我们会战斗，”他保证。 “我们会很自豪地站在他身边

side with WindClan." The two leaders looked into each other's eyes for a few heartbeats. Firestar could see that Tallstar shared the fear neither of them had spoken, that their resolve to fight the invading cats could mean the destruction of both their Clans. "We'll go now to prepare ourselves," Tallstar meowed at last. "And we'll meet you here again in three days, at dawn." "At dawn," Firestar echoed. "And may StarClan be with us all." He watched the WindClan cats retreat up the slope toward their territory before he turned to his own warriors. They looked subdued, eyes wide with apprehension, yet Firestar knew that none of them would flinch from the coming battle. They had followed him to Fourtrees expecting to fight, and even though their enemies were more terrible than any cat could have imagined, they would still defy them to keep the forest that they loved. "I'm proud of you all," Firestar mewed quietly. "If any cats can drive out BloodClan, you can." Sandstorm padded over to him and pressed her

站在风氏族一边。”两位领导人对视了几下。 火星看得出来，高星和他们一样，都有一种没有说出口的恐惧，那就是他们对抗入侵的猫的决心可能意味着他们两个氏族的毁灭。 “我们现在要去准备了，”高斯达终于喵喵叫道。 “三天后，黎明时分，我们还会在这里见你。” “黎明时分。”火星回应道。 “愿星族与我们同在。” 他看着风氏族的猫顺着山坡向自己的领地撤退，然后转向自己的战士。 他们看起来被制服了，惊恐地睁大了眼睛，但火星知道他们中没有一个人会在即将到来的战斗中退缩。 他们跟着他来到四棵树，期待着战斗，尽管他们的敌人比任何一只猫都想象得更可怕，但他们仍然会反抗他们，保住他们所爱的森林。 “我为你们感到骄傲。”火星轻声叫道。 “如果有猫能赶走血族，那就是你了。” 沙暴走到他身边，紧紧抱住她

muzzle against his shoulder. "With you to lead us, we will do anything," she promised. For a moment Firestar felt too overwhelmed to speak. Far from lifting his spirits, his warriors' expectations weighed on him heavily. "Let's get back to camp," he managed to meow at last. "We've a lot to do. Graystripe, Cloudtail, scout ahead. I wouldn't put it past Scourge to lay an ambush for us." The two warriors bounded away in the direction of the ThunderClan camp. A few moments later Firestar led the rest of his cats after them, putting Dustpelt at the rear to keep watch. As they headed swiftly through the forest Firestar thought that he could feel Scourge's cold, malignant eyes following their pawsteps. Once before, when the dog pack was loose, Firestar had felt like prey in the forest, and now his enemy had a face all the more terrible for being one of his own kind. But if the BloodClan leader was watching them he gave no sign of it, and the ThunderClan warriors reached the ravine unchallenged. Firestar noticed that Bramblepaw had begun to

枪口抵着他的肩膀。 “有你领导我们，我们会做任何事，”她承诺。 有那么一会儿，火星觉得太激动了，说不出话来。 他的战士们的期望非但没有振奋他的精神，反而给他带来了沉重的负担。 “我们回营地去吧。”他终于设法叫了起来。 “我们有很多事情要做。灰条，云尾巴，侦察前方。 我不认为天灾会伏击我们。” 两名战士向雷族营地的方向跳去。 过了一会儿，Firestar带着他的其他猫跟在他们后面，让Dustpelt在后面看守。 当他们迅速穿过森林时，火星觉得他可以感觉到天灾的冷酷、恶毒的眼睛跟着他们的脚步。 以前，当狗群松散的时候，火星觉得自己像森林里的猎物，而现在他的敌人因为是他的同类，脸变得更加可怕。 但就算血族首领在监视他们，他也没有表现出任何迹象，因此雷霆族的战士们毫无挑战地到达了峡谷。 火星注意到蓝爪已经开始这么做了

lag behind, his tail trailing on the ground. "What's wrong?" he asked gently. Bramblepaw raised his eyes to his mentor's, and Firestar was shocked by the depths of sick horror in his gaze. "I thought I hated my father," he mewed quietly. "I didn't want to join his Clan. But I didn't want him to die like that." "I know." Firestar pressed his muzzle against the young cat's side. "But it's over now, and you're free of him." Bramblepaw turned his head away. "I don't think I'll ever be free of him," he murmured. "Even now that he's dead, no cat will forget that I'm his son. And what about Tawnypaw?" His voice choked. "How could she choose to follow him?" "I don't know." Firestar understood how much pain Tawnypaw's betrayal must have caused her brother. "But if we come through this, I promise that we'll find a way of talking to her." "Does that mean you will let her come back to ThunderClan?" "I can't be sure of anything," Firestar admitted.

他落在后面，尾巴拖在地上。 “怎么了？”他温柔地问。 蓝爪抬起眼睛望着他的导师，火星被他目光中深深的病态的恐惧所震惊。 “我想我恨我的父亲，”他轻声叫道。 “我不想加入他的氏族。 但我不希望他就这样死去。” “我知道。”火星把它的嘴紧贴在小猫的侧面。 “但现在一切都结束了，你摆脱他了。” 蓝爪扭过头去。 “我想我永远也摆脱不了他了，”他喃喃地说。 “即使现在他死了，没有一只猫会忘记我是他的儿子。 那唐柏呢？”他的声音哽咽了。 “她怎么能选择跟随他呢？”“我不知道。” 火星明白唐柏的背叛给她哥哥带来了多大的痛苦。 “但如果我们能挺过来，我保证我们会找到办法和她说话的。” “这么说，你会让她回到雷霆家族吗？”“我不能确定任何事情，”Firestar承认。