Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 The snow had stopped by the time Firestar and Bramblepaw returned to camp. The clouds had cleared away and the setting sun cast long blue shadows over the thin coating of white that powdered the ground. Both cats were carrying fresh-kill; Firestar had watched his apprentice's hunting skills and been impressed by the young cat's concentration and skillful stalking. They had just reached the top of the ravine when they heard a yowl behind them. Firestar turned to see Graystripe bounding through the undergrowth. "Hi," panted the gray warrior as he caught up with them. His eyes widened when he saw their catch. "You've had better luck than me. I couldn't find so much as a mouse." Firestar grunted sympathetically as he led the way toward the gorse tunnel. He noticed that Sorrelkit, the most adventurous of Willowpelt's three kits, had left the camp and climbed halfway up the steep slope farther along the ravine. To Firestar's surprise, she was with Darkstripe; the warrior was bending over her, saying something to

第八章火星和蓝爪回到营地时，雪已经停了。 云已经散去，夕阳在地上薄薄的一层白色粉末上投下长长的蓝色阴影。 两只猫都带着新鲜的猎物；火星看到了他学徒的狩猎技巧，这只年轻的猫的专注和熟练的跟踪给他留下了深刻的印象。 他们刚走到峡谷的顶端，就听到身后传来一声嚎叫。 火星转过身，看到灰条在灌木丛中跳跃。 “嗨，”灰衣战士追上他们时喘着气说。 当他看到他们抓到的猎物时，他睁大了眼睛。 “你的运气比我好。 我连一只老鼠都找不到。” 火星同情地哼了一声，领着路朝金雀花隧道走去。 他注意到，在威洛佩尔特的三只小马儿中，最爱冒险的索雷尔基特已经离开了营地，沿着峡谷爬上了半山腰的陡坡。 令Firestar惊讶的是，她和Darkstripe在一起；武士弯下腰，对她说了些什么

her. "Odd," Firestar muttered through a mouthful of squirrel fur, half to himself. "Darkstripe has never shown much interest in kits before. And what's he doing out here on his own?" Suddenly Firestar heard a sharp exclamation from Graystripe and his friend flashed past him, hurtling along the side of the ravine, his paws scrabbling against the loose snow-covered stones. At the same moment Sorrelkit's legs crumpled underneath her sturdy tortoiseshell body and she started writhing in the snow. Firestar dropped his fresh-kill in amazement as Graystripe yowled, "No!" and flung himself on the dark warrior. Darkstripe clawed and flailed at him with his hind legs, but Graystripe's teeth were sunk in his throat and would not let go. "What-?" Firestar dashed down the slope with Bramblepaw right behind him. He dodged the fighting cats, still locked together in a whirlwind of teeth and claws, and reached Sorrelkit's side. The little kit twisted and turned on the ground, her eyes wide and glazed. She was letting out high-pitched moans of pain, and there was

她的。“真奇怪。”火星嘴里含着松鼠毛，半自言自语地嘟囔着。 “Darkstripe之前从未对套件表现出太多兴趣。 他一个人在这儿干什么呢？”突然，火星听到灰条纹发出一声尖锐的惊叫，他的朋友从他身边一闪而过，沿着峡谷边疾驰而过，爪子抓着松散的白雪覆盖的石头。 与此同时，Sorrelkit的腿在她结实的龟甲身体下面蜷缩起来，她开始在雪地里扭动。 当灰条纹嚎叫着：“不！”并扑向黑暗战士时，火星惊讶地扔下了他刚杀死的猎物。 黑条纹用后腿向他抓来抓去，但灰条纹的牙齿咬住了他的喉咙，不肯松手。 “——什么?”火星冲下山坡，蓝爪紧跟在他后面。 他躲开了打架的猫，它们仍然被牙齿和爪子的旋风紧紧地锁在一起，他来到了Sorrelkit的身边。 小女孩在地上扭来扭去，眼睛睁得大大的，呆滞无神。 她发出了痛苦的尖声呻吟，还有

foam on her lips. "Get Cinderpelt!" Firestar ordered Bramblepaw. His apprentice shot off, his paws sending up puffs of snow. Firestar bent over the young kit and placed a paw gently on her belly. "It's all right," he murmured. "Cinderpelt is coming." Sorrelkit's jaws gaped wide and Firestar caught a glimpse of half-chewed berries in her mouth, scarlet against her white teeth. "Deathberries!" He gasped. There was a dark-leaved shrub growing from a crack in the rock just above his head, with more of the lethal scarlet berries clustered among the leaves. He remembered a time many moons ago when Cinderpelt had appeared just in time to stop Cloudtail from eating the deathberries, and warned him of how poisonous they were. Later, Yellowfang had used them to kill her son, Brokentail; Firestar had seen for himself how quickly and fatally they worked. Crouching over Sorrelkit, Firestar did his best to scoop the crushed berries out of her mouth, but the kit was in too much terror and pain to

她的嘴唇上有泡沫。“得到Cinderpelt !”火星命令蓝爪。 他的徒弟撒腿就跑，爪子扬起阵阵雪沫。 火星弯下腰，把一只爪子轻轻地放在她的肚子上。 “没关系，”他喃喃地说。 “灰姑娘来了。”索瑞琪的下巴张得大大的，火星瞥见她嘴里嚼了一半的浆果，在她洁白的牙齿衬托下鲜红。 “Deathberries !”他气喘吁吁地说。 就在他头顶上方的岩石裂缝中，长着一棵深色叶子的灌木，叶子间簇簇着更多致命的猩红色浆果。 他想起许多个月以前，灰姑娘及时出现，阻止了云尾巴吃死莓，并警告他死莓有多毒。 后来，黄牙用它们杀死了她的儿子布罗肯泰尔；火星已经亲眼目睹了它们是多么迅速和致命。 火星蹲在Sorrelkit身上，尽力从她嘴里舀出压碎的浆果，但kit太害怕了，太痛苦了

keep still and make his task easier. Her head thrashed from side to side, and her body was convulsing in regular spasms that to Fireheart's horror seemed to be growing weaker. He could still hear Graystripe and Darkstripe screeching in the throes of their fight, but they seemed oddly far away. All his attention was concentrated on the kit. Then to his relief he felt Cinderpelt arrive beside him. "Deathberries!" he told her quickly. "I've tried to get them out, but…" Cinderpelt took his place by the kit's side. She had a bundle of leaves in her mouth; setting them down, she mewed, "Good. Keep holding her, Firestar, while I take a look." With two of them to help, and the kit's struggles definitely growing weaker, Cinderpelt was soon able to paw out the remains of the deathberries. Then she rapidly chewed up one of her leaves and stuffed the pulp into Sorrelkit's mouth. "Swallow it," she ordered. To Firestar she added, "It's yarrow. It'll make her sick." The kit's throat convulsed. A moment later she vomited; Firestar could see more scarlet

保持安静，让他的任务轻松些。 她的头左右摇晃，身体有规律地抽搐着，但令火心恐惧的是，这种痉挛似乎越来越弱了。 他还能听到灰条和暗条在搏斗中痛苦地尖叫，但奇怪的是，它们似乎离他很远。 他的全部注意力都集中在工具箱上。 接着，他感到灰姑娘来到了他身边，这使他松了一口气。 “死莓！”他赶紧告诉她。 “我试过把它们弄出来，但是……”灰姑娘站在了玩具旁边。 她嘴里叼着一捆树叶；把它们放下，她叫道：“很好。 继续抱着她，火星，我去看看。” 有两个人帮忙，小工具箱的挣扎变得越来越弱，灰姑娘很快就能把死莓的残骸抓出来了。 然后，她迅速咀嚼了一片叶子，把果肉塞进了Sorrelkit的嘴里。 “吞下去。”她命令道。 她对Firestar补充道：“这是蓍草。 那会使她生病的。”孩子的喉咙抽搐起来。 过了一会儿，她呕吐了；火星可以看到更多的红色

specks among the pulp of leaves. "Good," Cinderpelt mewed soothingly. "That's very good. You're going to be fine, Sorrelkit." The little kit lay gasping and trembling; then Firestar watched in dismay as she went limp and her eyes closed. "Is she dead?" he whispered. Before Cinderpelt could reply, a yowl came from the entrance to the camp. "My kit! Where's my kit?" It was Willowpelt, racing up the ravine with Bramblepaw. She crouched beside Sorrelkit, her blue eyes wide and distraught. "What happened?" "She ate deathberries," Cinderpelt explained. "But I think I've gotten rid of them all. We'll carry her back to my den and I'll keep an eye on her." Willowpelt began licking Sorrelkit's tortoiseshell fur. By now Firestar had seen the faint rise and fall of the kit's flank as she breathed. She was not dead, but he could see from Cinderpelt's anxious look that she was still in danger from the effects of the poison. For the first time Firestar had a chance to draw breath and look for Graystripe. The gray warrior

叶浆中的斑点。 “很好，”灰姑娘安慰地叫道。 “那很好。你会没事的，Sorrelkit。” 小宝贝躺在那里，喘着粗气，颤抖着；然后火星沮丧地看着她瘫倒在地，闭上了眼睛。 “她死了吗？” 灰姑娘还没来得及回答，一声嚎叫从营地的入口处传来。 “我的装备!我的装备呢？”那是柳树皮，和荆棘爪一起奔向峡谷。 她蹲在Sorrelkit身边，她的蓝眼睛睁得大大的，心烦意乱。 “发生什么事了?”“她吃了死莓，”灰姑娘解释说。 “但我想我已经把他们都赶走了。 我们把她抬回我的窝里，我会看着她的。” Willowpelt开始舔Sorrelkit的龟甲毛。 这时，火星已经看到了她呼吸时，kit的侧翼微微起伏。 她没有死，但是他从灰姑娘焦虑的表情中可以看出，她仍然处于中毒的危险之中。 这是Firestar第一次有机会喘口气去寻找Graystripe。 灰衣勇士

had pinned Darkstripe down a few tail-lengths away with one paw on his neck and another on his belly. Darkstripe was bleeding from one ear, and he spat in fury as he fought vainly to free himself. "What's going on?" Firestar demanded. "Don't ask me," snarled Graystripe. Firestar could hardly remember seeing his friend look so savage. "Ask this…this piece of fox dung why he tried to murder a kit!" "Murder?" Firestar echoed. The accusation was so unexpected that for a heartbeat he could do nothing but stare stupidly. "Murder," repeated Graystripe. "Go on, ask him why he was feeding deathberries to Sorrelkit." "You mouse-brained fool." Darkstripe's voice was cold as he gazed up at his attacker. "I wasn't feeding her the berries. I was trying to stop her from eating them." "I know what I saw," Graystripe insisted through gritted teeth. Firestar tried to recall the image of the warrior and the kit that he had seen when he paused at the top of the ravine. "Let him get up," he meowed reluctantly to his friend. "Darkstripe, tell

用一只爪子按住黑条纹的脖子，另一只爪子按住它的肚子，把它按在几尾远的地方。 黑条纹的一只耳朵在流血，他愤怒地吐了一口唾沫，但他想挣脱却徒劳无功。 “发生什么事了？”Firestar问道。 “别问我。”灰条咆哮道。 火星几乎不记得看到他的朋友看起来如此野蛮。 “问问这个……这个狐狸粪，他为什么要谋杀一个工具包！”“谋杀?”Firestar回荡。 这一指控是如此出人意料，他只能呆呆地瞪着眼睛。 “谋杀。”格雷斯特重复道。 “去吧，问问他为什么要给Sorrelkit喂死莓。” “你这个鼠脑傻瓜。”“暗条”抬头盯着攻击他的人，声音冰冷。 “我没有喂她浆果。 我是想阻止她吃。” “我知道我看到了什么，”格雷stripe咬紧牙关坚持道。 火星试图回忆起他在峡谷顶端停下来时看到的战士和装备的形象。 “让他起来。”他不情愿地喵喵叫着对他的朋友说。 “Darkstripe,告诉