Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19 Brambleclaw raced panic-stricken among the trees, bolting back and forth in a frantic effort to escape. Behind him he could hear the throaty bark of the dog that had leaped out from a thicket as he and his companions reached the wood. Glancing back, he saw the lean black shape crash through a clump of bracken, its tongue lolling. He could almost feel its sharp white teeth meeting in his pelt. "StarClan help us!" Feathertail gasped as she dashed beside him. They had fallen behind the other cats, though Brambleclaw heard a yowl of terror coming from somewhere just ahead. "Dodge!" he called. "Try to lose it!" The dog barked again, and from farther off Brambleclaw heard a Twoleg shouting. He lost sight of his pursuer, and he slowed down as a wave of relief swept over him; the creature must have gone back to its Twoleg. Then he heard the dog's snuffling breath, and it shot out from behind a fallen tree trunk. For a

第19章 棘爪惊慌失措地在树林里狂奔，来来回回疯跑着想要逃跑。 他身后能听见那只狗沙哑的吠叫，刚才他和伙伴们刚走进树林，这只狗就从灌木丛里猛扑了出来。 他回头瞥了一眼，看见那瘦长的黑色身影撞开蕨树丛，舌头耷拉着晃个不停。 他几乎都能感觉到那尖利的白牙已经咬进了自己的皮毛里。 “星族救救我们！” 羽尾奔到他身旁，上气不接下气地说。 他们已经落到其他猫后面了，棘爪还听见前方不远处传来一声恐惧的号叫。 “快躲开！” 他大喊道。 “想办法甩掉它！” 狗又叫了一声，棘爪听见更远的地方传来两脚兽的呼喊。 他看不到追来的狗了，于是放慢脚步，一股解脱感涌遍全身； 这大家伙肯定回它的两脚兽那儿去了。 就在这时，他听见了狗呼哧呼哧的喘气声，狗从一截倒树干后面猛地冲了出来。 棘爪一时间

heartbeat Brambleclaw stared into eyes like flames. Whirling around, he fled through the trees as the barking started up again. Confused by fear, he remembered how Firestar and the other cats of ThunderClan had led the dog pack through the forest until they fell into the gorge and drowned. But how could he and his friends lead this dog away, here in unknown territory? "Climb trees!" he yowled, hoping his friends could hear him above the fierce barking that sounded louder than ever. He glanced upward as he ran, but every tree seemed to have a smooth trunk with no low- growing branches. He could not stop and search; the beast would be on him at once. Had it already caught one of the others? Was he about to find one of his companions terribly injured like Brightheart, or worse, dead? His breath was rasping in his throat and his paws burned with every step; he knew he could not keep up this pace for much longer. Then a voice hissed at him from somewhere above his head. "Up here—quick!"

心脏狂跳，盯着那对火焰般的眼睛动弹不得。 他猛地转身，在树林里拼命逃窜，狗的吠叫再次响了起来。 恐惧把他脑子搅得一团乱，他想起从前火星和雷族的其他猫领着狗群穿过森林，最后让它们掉进峡谷淹死的事。 可这里是陌生的领地，他和朋友们该怎么把这只狗引开呢？ “快爬树！” 他厉声吼道，希望朋友们能盖过凶猛的吠叫声听见他的呼喊。 他边跑边抬头扫了一眼，可每棵树的树干都光秃秃滑溜溜的，低处连一根树枝都没有。 他根本没法停下来找树枝；这野兽马上就会追上他了。 它是不是已经抓住别的同伴了？ 他会不会看到同伴落得亮心那样重伤，或者更糟，已经死了？ 他的喉咙喘得呼呼作响，每跑一步爪子都火烧火燎的； 他知道自己没法再保持这个速度跑多久了。 就在这时，一个声音从他头顶上方传来，轻轻对他嘶喊。 “快上来——快点！”

Brambleclaw skidded to a halt beside a tree that was covered with ivy. A pair of eyes gleamed down at him. In the same heartbeat the dog crashed through a tangle of briars behind him. With a terrified yowl, Brambleclaw launched himself upward, clawing frantically at the ivy stems. They gave way under his weight, and for a heart-stopping moment he swung helplessly; the dog leaped up and he heard the snap of its teeth and felt hot breath on his fur. Then he managed to sink his claws into a stronger ivy stem and hauled himself upward again. Squirrelpaw appeared below, shot past the nose of the dog, and clawed her way up the tree, overtaking Brambleclaw to crouch shivering on a branch. Brambleclaw scrambled up beside her. He spotted Stormfur and Tawnypelt clinging to another branch just above his head, and Crowpaw scrabbled his way up to join them from the other side of the trunk. "Feathertail!" gasped Brambleclaw. "Where's Feathertail?" The dog was on its hind legs at the bottom of the tree, less than a fox-length below him. Its

棘爪在一棵爬满常春藤的树边猛地停住了脚。 一双眼睛正低头对着他闪闪发亮。 就在同一瞬间，狗撞开他身后的荆棘丛冲了过来。 棘爪发出一声恐惧的号叫，猛地向上一蹿，疯狂地抓着常春藤藤蔓往上爬。 藤蔓在他的重量下往下塌，那一瞬间他无助地晃着，心都快跳出来了； 狗向上一跃，他听见狗牙齿咬合的咔嗒声，还感觉到皮毛沾到了狗热乎乎的呼气。 接着他终于把爪子扣进粗韧的常春藤茎，再次向上爬去。 松鼠爪出现在树下，一下子从狗鼻子跟前窜过去，抓着树干往上爬，超过棘爪后蹲在一根树枝上浑身发抖。 棘爪紧跟着爬到她身边。 他看见石毛和褐皮抓着他头顶上方的另一根树枝，鸦爪也从树干另一侧爬了上来，加入了他们。 “羽尾！”棘爪喘着气喊道。 “羽尾在哪里？” 那只狗用后脚撑着站在树底下，离他还不到一只狐狸的身长。 它的

claws tore at the ivy while it snarled furiously, drool spilling out of its jaws. The sound of the Twoleg shouting came again, but a long way off. Then Brambleclaw noticed Feathertail crouching in the briars just behind the dog, staring out in terror. If she tried to run for the safety of the tree, the dog would cut her off. How long, Brambleclaw wondered, before it scented her? Suddenly he heard Crowpaw spit furiously. "Fox dung! I've had enough of this." The WindClan apprentice hurled himself out of the tree, narrowly missing the dog, and hit the ground just beyond it. The dog spun around and gave chase, its paws scrabbling on the dry leaves. While it was distracted, Feathertail bolted out of the briars and across the clearing to make a desperate leap for a thin branch that swung alarmingly under her weight. "Crowpaw!" Brambleclaw yowled. The gray-black tom had vanished into the bushes. Brambleclaw could hear the dog crashing about, barking wildly, and the shouts of the Twoleg growing closer. Then Crowpaw appeared

爪子疯狂抓扯着常春藤，愤怒地低吼着，口水从它的大嘴里不断流下来。 两脚兽的呼喊声又传了过来，不过距离很远。 接着棘爪发现羽尾蹲在狗身后的荆棘丛里，吓得呆住了，正惊恐地向外望着。 如果她想跑到安全的树上，狗一定会拦住她。 棘爪暗暗担心，还要过多久狗就会闻到她的气味？ 突然他听见鸦爪愤怒地啐了一声。 “狐狸屎！ 我受够了。” 这位风族学徒猛地从树上跳下去，擦着狗的身边闪过，落在了狗另一侧的地上。 狗立刻转身追了上去，爪子抓着干树叶哗啦直响。 趁着狗被引开，羽尾一下子冲出荆棘丛，穿过空地拼命跳向一根细树枝，树枝在她的重量下晃得厉害。 “鸦爪！” 棘爪大声吼道。 这只灰黑色公猫已经冲进灌木丛不见了踪影。 棘爪能听见狗横冲直撞的声音，还有它疯狂的吠叫，两脚兽的喊声也越来越近了。 接着鸦爪出现了

again, his belly close to the ground as he ran all- out for the tree. The dog was panting just behind him. Brambleclaw squeezed his eyes tight shut and opened them again in time to see Crowpaw take a flying jump and dig his claws into the ivy. At the same moment the Twoleg lumbered into the clearing and made a dive for the dog's collar. He was red-faced and yelling furiously. The dog dodged to one side, but the Twoleg managed to grab it and clip a lead onto its collar. The dog's barks changed to whining as it was dragged away, clawing the grass and leaf mold as it struggled to return to its prey. "Thank you, Crowpaw!" Feathertail gasped, still clinging to the swaying branch. "You saved my life!" "Yes, you did," meowed Brambleclaw. "Well done." Crowpaw scrambled higher until he reached the branch beside Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw. "Big brute," he muttered, looking embarrassed. "Tripped over its own paws." Feathertail's blue eyes were fixed on him, huge as moons with shock. "It would have caught

他再次把肚皮贴紧地面，拼尽全力往那棵树狂奔。 猎狗就在他身后喘着粗气追来。 荆爪紧紧闭上眼睛，再睁开时刚好看见鸦爪飞身一跃，爪子狠狠抠进常春藤里。 就在这时，两脚兽跌跌撞撞冲进空地，一把扑向猎狗的项圈。 他涨红了脸，怒气冲冲地大喊大叫。 猎狗往旁边一闪，可还是被两脚兽抓住了，还把牵引扣在了项圈上。 猎狗的吠叫变成了哀鸣，它被拽走的时候，还扒着草和腐叶，拼命想挣回去扑猎物。 "谢谢你，鸦爪！" 羽尾喘着气说，还紧紧抓着晃来晃去的树枝。 "你救了我的命！" "没错，真的谢谢你。"荆爪喵声道。 "干得好。" 鸦爪往更高处爬，爬到了荆爪和松鼠爪旁边的树枝上。 "那大家伙真笨。"他嘟囔着，看起来有点不好意思。 "它自己绊到爪子了。" 羽尾那双蓝眼睛直直盯着他，震惊得瞪得像月亮一样大。 "要是你没

me for sure if you hadn't come to help me," she whispered. As Brambleclaw's fear ebbed, he remembered for the first time the voice that had called him up into the tree. It wasn't one of the Clan cats. Looking up again, he saw a pair of eyes gleaming from the leaves a little way above his head. Then the leaves rustled and an unfamiliar cat emerged. It was a tabby tom, old and plump with rumpled fur that looked as if he never bothered to groom himself. His movements were slow and careful as he clambered down the tree to join the six journeying cats. "Well," he rasped. "You're a fine bunch, an" no mistake. Don't you know that that dog runs loose every day, "round about sunrise?" "How would we know that?" Tawnypelt spat. "We've never been here before." The tom blinked at her. "No need to get so snippy. You'll know another time, won't you? Get out o" the way then." "There won't be another time," Stormfur meowed. "We're just passing through." "Thank you for helping us," Brambleclaw

过来帮我，它肯定抓到我了。"她轻声说。 等荆爪的恐惧慢慢退去，他才第一次想起刚才把他喊上树的那个声音。 那不是族群猫的声音。 他再抬头往上看，看见头顶上方不远处的树叶里，有一双眼睛正闪闪发亮。 接着树叶沙沙响，一只陌生的猫走了出来。 这是一只花斑公猫，年纪大了圆滚滚的，毛发乱蓬蓬的，好像从来不打理自己。 他慢慢悠悠、小心谨慎地爬下树，来到六只远行的猫身边。 "唔，"他声音沙哑地说。 "你们这群小家伙可真行，真没说错。 你们难道不知道那只猎狗每天都在这附近乱跑吗？大概日出的时候就来？" "我们怎么会知道？" 褐皮啐了一口。 "我们以前从没来过这儿。" 公猫对着她眨了眨眼睛。 "用不着这么大脾气嘛。 下次你们不就知道了，对吧？ 那还不快下来。" "不会有下次了，"石须说。 "我们只是路过这儿。" "还是谢谢你帮了我们。"荆爪