Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23 Brambleclaw stared at the apprentice for a moment before opening his mouth and tasting the air for himself. Squirrelpaw was right. The salt tang was unmistakable, carrying him right back to his dream, and the bitter taste of the water that had surged around him. "It is salt!" he meowed. "We must be close. Come on!" He raced into the wind with the sun dazzling his eyes. A swift glance behind showed that his companions were following. Even Tawnypelt was managing to hobble faster. Brambleclaw felt new strength pouring into his limbs, as if he could go on running forever until he soared into the fiery sky like one of the white birds that wheeled and screamed above them. Instead, he came to a skidding, terrified halt on the edge of a huge cliff. Steep sandy slopes fell away barely a mouselength in front of his paws. Waves crashed at the bottom, and stretching out ahead of him was a heaving expanse of blue- green water. The sun was sinking into it on the

第23章 棘爪盯着学徒看了一会儿，才张嘴亲自尝了尝空气里的味道。 松鼠爪说得没错。 那股咸腥味错不了，一下子把他带回了那场梦，还有当时涌在他身边的海水那股苦涩味道。 "真的是盐！" 他喵声道。 "我们肯定快到了。 快走！" 他迎着风往前冲，阳光晃得他眼睛发亮。 他匆匆回头一瞥，看到同伴们都跟了上来。 就连褐皮都能一瘸一拐走得更快了。 棘爪感觉四肢涌进了新的力量，仿佛他能一直跑下去，直到像那些在他们头顶盘旋嘶鸣的白鸟一样，冲进火红的天空。 可他猛地打滑刹住脚，吓坏了——他停在了一座巨大悬崖的边缘。 在他爪子跟前，不到一只老鼠身长的地方就是陡斜的沙坡，直往下坠。 海浪在崖底冲击拍打，他面前铺展开一大片起伏翻滚的蓝绿色海水。 太阳正沉入这片海水，在

horizon, its flames so bright that Brambleclaw had to narrow his eyes against them. The orange fire burned a path like blood across the water, almost reaching the foot of the cliff. For a few moments no cat could do anything but stare. Then Brambleclaw shook himself. "We've got to hurry," he meowed. "We have to find the cave with teeth before it gets dark." "And then wait for midnight," Feathertail added. Brambleclaw glanced from side to side, but he couldn't see anything to tell him which way to go. Choosing a direction at random, he led the way along the cliff top. From time to time they stopped and peered over the edge to look for the cave. Brambleclaw dug his claws firmly into the tough grass; it was too easy to imagine slipping over and falling, falling, falling into the hungry waves. Gradually the land sloped down until the water was only the height of a tree below them. The cliff top jutted out so they could not see the bottom, and the almost sheer surface was deeply scored with ancient runnels of rain. As the cliff

地平线上，落日的火光太过耀眼，棘爪不得不眯起了眼睛。 橙色的火光在水面铺出一条血一样的光路，几乎延伸到悬崖脚下。 好一阵子，没有一只猫能做出反应，都只是呆呆地望着。 接着棘爪晃了晃身子。 "我们得抓紧了，"他喵道。 "我们得在天黑前找到那座长牙齿的洞穴。" "然后等待午夜降临，"羽尾补充道。 棘爪左右张望，可他看不出该往哪个方向走。 他随便选了一个方向，沿着崖顶往前带路。 他们时不时停下来，探身到崖边找那座洞穴。 棘爪把爪子牢牢抠进坚硬的草皮里； 他很容易就能想到打滑摔下去，一直掉啊掉，掉进饥饿的海浪里。 地势渐渐往下倾斜，没过多久，水面就只比他们低一棵树的高度了。 崖顶向前突出，他们看不到崖底，近乎垂直的崖面上布满了远古雨水冲刷出的深深沟槽。 当悬崖

grew less steep, the cats scrabbled a little way down and made their way along closer to the water, sometimes even within reach of a salty burst of wave. Clefts, riven by ancient streams, split the rock, sometimes so wide that the cats had to leap over them, and the grass frequently gave way to hollows where a few twisted shrubs clung to the scant soil. "There are plenty of places to shelter for the night if we don't find the cave," Stormfur pointed out. Brambleclaw was beginning to think they might need to find somewhere to stop. The sun had sunk beneath the water by now, though great orange flares still streaked the sky. The breeze was growing colder. Tawnypelt at least could lie down, he thought, while the rest of them went on searching. His sister had fallen a little way behind. Brambleclaw was just bounding back to her, skirting the edge of one of the clefts, when his paws slipped and he found himself sliding helplessly into the hollow. He scrabbled at the loose soil but it gave way under his claws,

变得没那么陡峭后，猫儿们扒着岩壁往下走了一小段，沿着离海水更近的地方前进，有时咸涩的浪花甚至都能拍到他们。 远古溪流冲刷出的裂缝把岩石劈成一块一块，有些裂缝太宽，猫儿们得跳过去，草地常常变成凹地，只有几株扭曲的灌木抓着贫瘠的泥土生长在这里。 "就算找不到洞穴，也有很多地方可以过夜，"石毛说道。 棘爪也开始觉得，他们说不定得找个地方停下了。 这会儿太阳已经落到海水下面了，不过大片橙红色的光带仍然划过天空。 风也变得越来越冷了。 他想，至少可以让褐皮先躺下休息，其他的猫继续去找。 他的妹妹已经落在后面一小段路了。 棘爪正往她那边跑回去，绕着一道裂缝的边缘走，这时他爪子一滑，身不由己地滑进了凹地。 他用爪子使劲扒着松散的泥土，可泥土还是在他爪下崩开了，

showering him with dirt. He kept on sliding; in the shadows he could not see the bottom and he let out a yowl of alarm. "Brambleclaw!" Stormfur leaped into the hollow beside him and tried to sink his claws into Brambleclaw's shoulder, but Brambleclaw felt more of the soil give way and they both slid downward more rapidly than before. Soil spattered over Brambleclaw's face, stinging his eyes and choking him. From somewhere above he heard an earsplitting yowl and Squirrelpaw launched herself practically on top of him. "No—go back!" he choked out, getting a mouthful of soil. Then even the shifting soil vanished and there was nothing beneath him at all; he fell, howling, for a few terrified heartbeats and landed with a thump on damp pebbles. For a moment he lay stunned. A booming echo thundered in his ears, and he felt as if the whole world were spinning around. Then he opened his eyes and stared in horror as he saw the shape of a massive gaping mouth with teeth closing on him, outlined against the red evening

泥土哗哗落在他身上。 他一直往下滑，阴影里看不到底，他发出一声惊恐的号叫。 "棘爪！" 石毛跳进他身旁的凹地，想把爪子扣进棘爪的肩膀，可棘爪感觉到又一块泥土崩落，他俩都往下滑得比之前更快了。 泥土溅了棘爪一脸，蛰得他眼睛发疼，还喘不上气。 他听见从上方什么地方传来一声刺耳的叫，松鼠爪差不多直接扑到了他身上。 "No——回去！" 他憋出几个字，嘴里还满是泥土。 接着连松动的泥土都消失了，他脚下完全空了； 他嚎叫着往下掉，吓得心都要跳出来，几秒之后就咚的一声砸在了潮湿的鹅卵石上。 他躺在那，晕了好一会儿。 轰隆的回声在他耳边炸响，他感觉整个世界都在打转。 接着他睁开眼睛，惊恐地看到，红色暮色映衬出轮廓：一个长着牙齿的巨大豁口正朝着他合拢。

sky. He tried to scramble up, but a sudden rush of water swept him off his paws. His yowl of terror was cut off abruptly as water swirled into his mouth, with the terrifying salt taste of his dream. Brambleclaw flailed with all his strength but the waves hurled him mercilessly toward the teeth and then tossed him back again, far under the cliff. He did not know where he was or which way he should try to swim. Water filled his eyes and ears, roaring around him. He gasped for breath, only to swallow more of the salt water. His frantic struggles were growing weaker, and the cold, stifling waves were closing over his head when he felt a sharp pain in one shoulder. Suddenly the pressure on his fur vanished and he could breathe again. Coughing up water, he turned his head and saw Squirrelpaw's eyes blazing at him, her teeth fastened firmly in his fur. "No!" He gasped. "You can't—you'll drown..." Squirrelpaw could not reply without letting go of him. Her only response was to kick out

天空。 他努力想要爬上去，可一股急流一下子把冲倒了他。 漩涡卷着海水冲进他嘴里，他恐惧的嚎叫戛然而止，满嘴都是梦里那种可怕的咸味。 棘爪拼尽全力挣扎，可海浪无情地把他抛向尖礁石，又把他甩回悬崖底下。 他分不清自己在哪儿，也不知道该往哪个方向游。 海水灌满了他的眼睛和耳朵，轰鸣声在他四周不停作响。 他挣扎着想要喘气，反倒吞进了更多咸海水。 他疯狂的挣扎越来越无力，冰冷窒息的海浪就要盖过他头顶时，他忽然感觉肩膀一阵刺痛。 忽然，压在他皮毛上的力道消失了，他又能呼吸了。 他呛出海水转过头，看见松鼠爪眼睛亮晶晶的，正死死咬着他的皮毛。 "不！" 他喘着气说。 "你不行的——你会淹死的……" 松鼠爪只要松口就抓不住他，没法开口回答。 她唯一的回应就是用力蹬水

strongly with all four paws. Brambleclaw felt pebbles shifting underneath his feet, and then the waves washed them back toward the teeth. Summoning the last scrap of his strength he thrashed at the water, trying to drive himself and Squirrelpaw away from those spiky rocks. The water surged and lifted them up; he got a brief glimpse of sodden dark gray fur—Stormfur— beside him, before the waves sent them crashing down on hard ground. The breath driven out of him, Brambleclaw scrabbled among the rolling pebbles while the shallow, sucking water threatened to drag him back again. Squirrelpaw, still gripping his shoulder, pulled him up, and he felt another cat give him a shove from behind. At last he collapsed on solid rock and lay still, letting the world drift away. A paw prodding against his flank roused him. "Brambleclaw?" It was Squirrelpaw, sounding desperately anxious. "Brambleclaw, are you all right?" Brambleclaw opened his mouth and let out a moan. His fur was soaked and he was ice-cold.

四只爪子用力地划着水。 棘爪感觉到脚下的鹅卵石在滑动，接着海浪又把他俩冲回尖礁石那边。 他拼出最后一点力气在水里扑腾，想要带着松鼠爪远离那些尖刺般的礁石。 海浪涌来，把他俩托了起来； 他匆匆瞥见身旁一团湿透的深灰皮毛——是石毛——接着海浪就把他俩狠狠摔在了硬地上。 棘爪被摔得喘不上气，他在滚动的鹅卵石里拼命攀爬，浅滩的海水还在不停拉扯他，要把他拖回海里。 松鼠爪始终咬着他的肩膀拉他往上，他还感觉到有另一只猫在身后推他。 最后他瘫在坚硬的岩石上一动不动，任由意识慢慢飘远。 一只爪子推了推他的胁部，把他叫醒了。 "棘爪？" 是松鼠爪，声音满是焦急。 "棘爪，你没事吧？" 棘爪张开嘴，发出一声呻吟。 他的皮毛全湿透了，浑身冻得冰凉。