Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 "Where are we going to sleep?" Squirrelpaw asked. As soon as Brambleclaw agreed to take her with him on the journey, her hurt and anger had vanished like dawn mist under a hot sun. He did not think she had stopped talking for a moment since they left the clearing where Firestar had found them. "Quiet!" he hissed. "If any cat is looking for us, they'll be able to hear you right across the forest." "But where?" Squirrelpaw persisted, though she did lower her voice. "Somewhere not too far from Fourtrees," Brambleclaw replied. "Then we'll be ready to meet the others at sunrise." Darkness had fallen as he led the way through the undergrowth. Clouds had massed to cover the sky, so that no gleam of star or moon broke through. A cold breeze whispered in the grass, and once again Brambleclaw tasted the scents of approaching leaf-fall.

第十一章 “我们要去哪儿睡觉？” 松鼠爪问道。 黑莓掌刚一同意带她一起踏上旅程，她的伤痛和愤怒就像烈日下的晨雾消散得无影无踪。 在他看来，自从离开火星找到他俩的空地后，她就一刻都没停过说话。 “安静！”他嘶声喝道。 “要是有猫找我们，整个森林都能听见你的声音了。” “可是我们到底睡哪儿？”松鼠爪追问道，不过她确实把声音压低了。 “去四棵树不远的地方。”黑莓掌回答。 “这样日出时我们就能准备好和其他猫会合了。” 他领着路在灌木丛中穿行时，夜幕已经降临。 云层聚拢遮住了天空，半点星光月光都透不进来。 一阵冷风在草间低拂，黑莓掌再一次闻到了落叶季将至的气息。

With possible pursuit in mind, he had considered finding shelter near Snakerocks, which the Clan had been ordered to avoid, but the risk of encountering the night-hunting badger was too great. Instead he decided to make for the Thunderpath, hoping that the acrid smells of Twoleg monsters would mask his own scent and Squirrelpaw's. "I know a good tree by the Thunderpath," Squirrelpaw suggested. "You can get right inside. We could hide there." "And have spiders and beetles crawling through our fur all night?" Brambleclaw mewed discouragingly. "No, thanks." Squirrelpaw sniffed. "Why do you always know better?" "Maybe because I'm a warrior?" Distracted by a rustling in the undergrowth, the apprentice made no reply. Barely pausing to track her prey, she dived into a clump of bracken and came back a couple of heartbeats later with a mouse dangling from her jaws. "Well done," meowed Brambleclaw. The sight of the fresh-kill made him realize

想到可能被追踪，黑莓掌原本考虑在蛇岩附近找藏身地，那地方是族里下令禁止进入的，但遇上夜猎獾的风险实在太大了。 于是他决定往雷鬼路走，希望两脚兽怪物刺鼻的气味能盖住他和松鼠爪的气味。 “我知道雷鬼路边有一棵很好的树。”松鼠爪提议道。 “你可以直接钻进去。 我们可以藏在那儿。” “那岂不是要让蜘蛛和甲虫整晚在我们毛里爬吗？” 黑莓掌不赞同地喵道。 “不了，谢谢。” 松鼠爪哼了一声。 “你怎么总觉得自己才对？” “说不定因为我是武士呀？” 这位学徒被灌木丛里的沙沙声分了心，没有回答。 她几乎没停下来追踪猎物的踪迹，就一头扎进蕨树丛，没一会儿功夫，就叼着一只老鼠回来了。 “干得好。”黑莓掌喵道。 看到这新鲜猎物，他才意识到

how hungry he was. Not long after, he managed to catch a mouse for himself, and the two cats paused to eat in quick, wary gulps, their ears pricked to catch the faintest traces of a ThunderClan patrol. But Brambleclaw could hear nothing except the ordinary night sounds of the forest and the nearby roar of monsters on the Thunderpath. Their stench was so strong here that it masked most others, as Brambleclaw had hoped, though he shrank from the thought of spending the night with that in his nostrils. While they ate, a thin, cold rain began to fall, growing steadily heavier until Brambleclaw's fur was soaked and he was colder than he could remember feeling in moons. "We need shelter," Squirrelpaw mewed, shivering. She looked small and vulnerable, with her fur plastered darkly to her body. "What about finding that tree?" Brambleclaw was about to agree when they emerged from the undergrowth at the top of a grassy bank, and he found himself looking down at the Thunderpath. A Twoleg monster roared past, its glaring eyes cutting shafts of yellow

他有多饿。 没过多久，他也抓到了一只老鼠，两只猫停下来匆匆进食，吃得十分警惕，耳朵竖得直直的，捕捉雷族巡逻队哪怕最微弱的动静。 可黑莓掌什么异常都没听到，只有森林里寻常的夜声，还有近处雷鬼路上怪物的轰鸣。 这里怪物的臭味非常浓，果然如黑莓掌希望的那样盖住了大多数其他气味，可一想到要整晚闻这味道，他还是忍不住退怯。 他们吃东西的时候，细细的冷雨开始落下，雨势渐渐变大，很快黑莓掌的毛就全湿透了，他冷得是好几个月来都不曾有过的。 “我们需要躲雨的地方。”松鼠爪发着抖喵道。 她的湿毛牢牢贴在身上，看起来小小的，十分脆弱。 “去找那棵树怎么样？” 黑莓掌正要答应，他俩就走出灌木丛，来到草坡顶部，低头就看见了雷鬼路。 一只两脚兽怪物轰鸣驶过，它刺眼的眼睛射出一道道黄色的

brightness through the night. Before it swept by, the light showed Brambleclaw a looming dark shape, the biggest monster he had ever seen, squatting on the verge of the Thunderpath. The reek of it flooded his senses. "What's that?" exclaimed Squirrelpaw, brushing close beside him. "I don't know," Brambleclaw admitted. "I've never seen anything like it before. Stay here while I take a look." Cautiously he padded forward until he stood a couple of fox-lengths away from the monster. Was it dead, he wondered, and was that why its Twolegs had abandoned it here? Or was it crouching, watching, waiting to spring as he would spring on a helpless mouse? "Look, we could get underneath it," Squirrelpaw pointed out, trotting up to join him; of course she had not obeyed his order to wait at the top of the bank. "We could shelter from the rain." There was just enough light for Brambleclaw to make out a darker gap between the monster's belly and the ground. His fur bristled at the

光亮，穿透了黑夜。 在它冲过去之前，光亮让黑莓掌看清了一个隐约的黑影，那是他见过的最大的怪物，趴伏在雷鬼路的路边。 它的臭味充斥了他的感官。 “那是什么？”松鼠爪惊呼，紧挨着他贴了过来。 “我不知道。”黑莓掌如实说。 “我从来没见过这样的东西。 在这儿等着，我去看看。” 他小心地往前放轻脚步走，一直走到离那怪物大约两个狐狸身长的地方才站定。 他忍不住猜想，它是不是死了，所以它的两脚兽才把它丢在这儿？ 还是它正蜷伏着，盯着，等着扑出来，就像他扑向一只无助的老鼠那样？ “你看，我们可以躲到它肚子下面呀。”松鼠爪指出，小跑过来跟他会合； 她当然没有听从他的命令，在坡顶等着。 “我们可以在这儿躲雨。” 光线刚够让黑莓掌看清，怪物肚子和地面之间有一块颜色更深的空隙。 他的毛发因为这

thought of crawling into the narrow space, but he didn't want to seem a coward in front of Squirrelpaw, and her suggestion was a good one. The overwhelming scent would certainly hide them from any pursuers. "Okay," he meowed. "But let me—" He broke off as Squirrelpaw bounded forward, flattened herself to the ground, and wriggled underneath the monster. "—go first," Brambleclaw finished resignedly, following her. A faint dawn light seeping under the monster's belly roused Brambleclaw the next morning. Squirrelpaw was curled beside him. For a heartbeat he couldn't remember why she was sleeping in his den instead of her own. Then the acrid reek of the monster, and a continuous roar from the Thunderpath close by, reminded him where he was and why. This was the morning when the journey would really begin! But instead of excitement, he felt only uncertainty dragging at his paws, along with the dismal thought that he had as good as exiled himself from his Clan by disappearing without his leader's permission.

他本来想钻进那处窄缝，可他不想在松鼠爪面前显得像个胆小鬼，何况她的提议确实不错。 这里浓烈的气味肯定能帮他们躲开任何追捕者。 “好吧，”他喵了一声。 “不过让我——”话还没说完，松鼠爪就已经冲上前，她把身子贴紧地面，扭着钻到了怪物底下。 “——先走。”黑莓掌无奈地把话说完，跟了上去。 第二天清晨，淡淡的曙光从怪物腹下透进来，唤醒了黑莓掌。 松鼠爪正蜷缩在他身旁。 有那么一瞬间，他完全记不清，为什么她没睡在自己的窝，反倒睡在这里。 紧接着怪物刺鼻的气味，还有附近雷路不停的轰隆声，提醒了他身在何处，又为何来到这里。 今天就是旅程真正开始的日子呀！ 可他感受不到半分兴奋，只有沉甸甸的不安拽着他的爪子，他还沮丧地想，没得到族长允许就私自出走，他和把自己逐出族群没什么两样了。

Brambleclaw crept out from beneath the monster and lifted his head to taste the air. The grass was still wet from the previous night's rain, and the bushes at the top of the bank were heavy with drops of water. Mist curled through the trees in the gray dawn. There was no sound or scent of other cats. Turning back to the monster, he called to Squirrelpaw, "Wake up! It's time we were on our way to Fourtrees." He was beginning to think he would have to slide back under the monster's belly to rouse the apprentice when she crawled out, blinking. "I'm starving," she complained. "We'll have time to catch prey on the way," Brambleclaw told her. "But we must get moving. The others will be waiting." "Okay." Squirrelpaw raced up the bank and headed toward Fourtrees, following the line of the Thunderpath. Brambleclaw caught up to her, and for a time the two cats loped along side by side. The mist cleared and a golden light gathered on the horizon where the sun would rise. Birds began to sing in the branches overhead.

黑莓掌从怪物底下爬出来，抬起头嗅了嗅空气中的气味。 草叶还沾着昨夜雨后的湿气，堤岸顶的灌木丛也挂满了沉甸甸的水珠。 灰蒙蒙的晨曦里，雾气在树间盘绕打转。 既听不到其他猫的动静，也闻不到他们的气味。 他转回身对着怪物，朝松鼠爪喊道：“醒醒！ 我们该动身去四棵树了！” 他正琢磨着要不要钻回怪物腹下叫醒这个学徒，松鼠爪就爬出来了，眼睛还迷迷糊糊的。 “我饿死啦，”她抱怨道。 “我们路上能抽空捕猎，”黑莓掌对她说。 “不过我们得赶紧出发。 其他人都在等着了。” “好。” 松鼠爪飞快冲上堤岸，沿着雷路朝四棵树走去。 黑莓掌追上了她，之后两只猫就并排往前小跑着。 雾气散了，太阳将要升起的地平线晕开一片金光。 鸟儿开始在头顶的树枝上唱起歌来。