Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 "Squirrelpaw is upset," Leafpaw remarked, watching her sister leave the medicine cat's clearing with the twig of mouse bile clenched in her jaws. "She deserves to be." Cinderpelt glanced up from counting juniper berries. She spoke firmly, though not unsympathetically. "If apprentices think they can go off by themselves, without telling any cat, then where would we be?" "I know." While Leafpaw prepared the mouse bile, she had listened to her sister raging about how unfair the punishment was. Squirrelpaw's anger churned deep within Leafpaw's belly, as if the air in the camp were water and her sister was sending ripples of cold frustration into the medicine cat's den. Ever since they were tiny kits they had always known what the other was feeling. Leafpaw remembered how her fur had tingled with excitement when Squirrelpaw was made apprentice, and how her sister had been unable to sleep on the night when Leafpaw had been apprenticed as a medicine cat at the

第三章 "松鼠爪不高兴了"，叶爪看着姐姐叼着沾了老鼠胆汁的小树枝离开巫医的空地，开口说道。 "她活该。" 炭毛数着杜松浆果，抬眼看了过来。 她语气坚定，却并非毫无同情。 "要是学徒都可以不跟任何猫打声招呼就擅自乱跑，那我们还成什么样子？" "我知道。" 叶爪准备老鼠胆汁的时候，听见姐姐一直在抱怨这次处罚有多不公平。 松鼠爪的怒气仿佛也搅在叶爪心头，就像营地的空气变成了水，姐姐带着冰冷挫败的波纹一直漾进了巫医巢穴。 从她们还是小幼崽的时候起，就一直能感知到对方的心情。 叶爪还记得，松鼠爪成为学徒时，她兴奋得浑身毛发发颤；而叶爪成为巫医学徒的那个晚上，姐姐辗转难眠，那是在

Moonstone. Once she had felt an excruciating pain in her paw, and limped around the camp from sunhigh to sunset, until Squirrelpaw returned from a hunting patrol with a thorn driven deep into her pad. Leafpaw shook her head as if she had a burr clinging to her pelt, trying to push away her sister's emotions and concentrate on her task of sorting yarrow leaves. "Squirrelpaw will be fine," Cinderpelt reassured her. "It'll all be forgotten tomorrow. Now, did you get any of that mouse bile on your fur? If you did, you'd better go and wash it off." "No, Cinderpelt, I'm fine." Leafpaw knew her voice was filled with the strain she was feeling, however hard she tried to hide it. "Cheer up." Cinderpelt limped out of her den to join her apprentice, pressing her muzzle comfortingly against Leafpaw's side. "Do you want to come to the Gathering tonight?" "May I?" Leafpaw spun to face her mentor. Then she hesitated. "Squirrelpaw won't be allowed to come, will she?" "After today? Certainly not!" Cinderpelt's

月光石。 有一回叶爪忽然感觉到爪子一阵剧痛，从正午到日落都一瘸一拐绕着营地走，直到松鼠爪狩猎巡逻归来，才发现自己脚掌深深扎了一根刺。 叶爪摇摇头，就像抖掉沾在毛上的刺果，她试着甩开姐姐的情绪，专心整理欧蓍草叶。 "松鼠爪不会有事的，"炭毛安慰她道。 "明天这事就没人记得了。 对了，你有没有把老鼠胆汁沾到毛上？ 要是沾到了，最好赶紧去洗掉。" "没有，炭毛，我没事。" 叶爪清楚，不管自己怎么努力掩饰，声音里还是藏不住紧绷的情绪。 "开心点。" 炭毛瘸着走出巢穴，走到学徒身边，用鼻子轻轻蹭了蹭叶爪的侧腹安慰她。 "今晚你想跟我去森林大会吗？" "我真的可以去吗？" 叶爪猛地转身面向自己的导师。 接着她犹豫了。 "松鼠爪不能去，对不对？" "出了今天这种事， 她当然不能去！" 炭毛的

blue eyes glowed with understanding. "Leafpaw, you and your sister aren't kits anymore. And you have chosen a very different path from hers, to be a medicine cat. You will always be friends, but you can't do everything together, and the sooner you both accept that, the better." Leafpaw nodded and bent over the yarrow leaves again. She struggled to calm her feelings of excitement over the Gathering, so that Squirrelpaw would not feel even more upset over being left out. Cinderpelt was right, but all the same she couldn't help wishing that she and Squirrelpaw had been able to attend the Gathering together. The full moon rode high in the sky as Firestar led the cats from ThunderClan up the slope toward Fourtrees. Padding along beside Cinderpelt, Leafpaw shivered with anticipation. This was the place where the territories of all four Clans joined together. At every full moon, the Clan leaders met here with their warriors under the sacred truce of StarClan to exchange news and make decisions that would affect the whole forest.

蓝眼睛里透着了然的神色。 "叶爪，你和姐姐已经不是幼崽了。 你选择了一条和她完全不同的路，成为一名巫医。 你们永远是好朋友，但你们没法每件事都一起做，你们越早接受这点越好。" 叶爪点点头，再次弯下身整理欧蓍草叶。 她努力压下自己对森林大会的兴奋，这样松鼠爪就不会因为被落下而更加难过了。 炭毛说得没错，但叶爪还是忍不住希望，她能和松鼠爪一起参加这次森林大会。 满月高挂在天空，火星带领雷族猫沿着斜坡朝四棵树走去。 叶爪走在炭毛身边，因为期待而兴奋得浑身轻颤。 这里就是四大族群领地交汇的地方。 每个满月，族群领袖都会带着武士来到这里，在星族的神圣休战下交换消息，商议影响整个森林的大事。

Firestar paused at the top of the slope and gazed down into the clearing. Leafpaw, near the back of the group, could only just see the tops of the four great oak trees that gave the clearing its name, but she could hear the sounds of many cats, and the breeze brought to her the mingled scents of ShadowClan, RiverClan, and WindClan. Before her first Gathering, the only other cats Leafpaw had met were the three medicine cats from the other Clans, when she made her journey to Highstones at the half moon to be formally apprenticed. When she had attended a Gathering for the first time, she and Squirrelpaw had been overwhelmed by all the strangers, and had stayed close to their mentors. But this time Leafpaw felt more confident, and she was looking forward to meeting warriors and apprentices from other Clans. Crouching in the undergrowth, she watched her father for the signal to move down into the clearing. Brambleclaw was standing just in front of her with Mousefur and Sorreltail. Leafpaw could see from the tautness in the young tabby's muscles that he was eagerly waiting for the

火星在斜坡顶停下脚步，低头望向下方的空地。 叶爪站在队伍靠后的位置，只能勉强看到那四棵大橡树的树冠，这块空地也因此得名；但她已经能听到群猫的喧闹声，微风也给她送来影族、河族和风族混杂在一起的气味。 第一次参加森林大会之前，叶爪只见过其他三个族群的巫医，那是她半月时前往高石正式成为学徒的时候。 第一次参加森林大会时，她和松鼠爪被这么多陌生人弄得晕头转向，一直紧紧待在各自导师身边。 但这次叶爪自信多了，她十分期待认识其他族群的武士和学徒。 她蹲在灌木丛里，等着父亲发出下到空地的信号。 黑莓掌站在她身前，身边是鼠毛和蕨尾。 叶爪能从这只年轻虎斑猫紧绷的肌肉看出，他正迫不及待地等着

Gathering to start, while Sorreltail's whole body quivered with excitement at the prospect of her first Gathering as a warrior. Farther ahead, Graystripe and Sandstorm were exchanging a few words, while Cloudtail shifted impatiently from paw to paw. Briefly Leafpaw felt a pang of sadness that Squirrelpaw was not there as well, but to her relief her sister had not minded too much about being left behind, saying that she was looking forward to a good night's sleep after caring for the elders all day. At last Firestar raised his tail as the sign for his cats to move forward. Leafpaw sprang over the edge of the hollow and found herself racing down the slope just behind Brambleclaw, weaving her way through the bushes until she came out into the clearing. The shimmering moonlight revealed a mass of cats, some already seated around the Great Rock in the center, others trotting across the clearing to greet cats they had not seen for a moon, or lying in the shelter of the bushes to gossip and share tongues. Brambleclaw slipped into the throng right away, and Cinderpelt went over to speak to

集合准备出发，栗尾想到这是自己成为武士后第一次参加森林集会，浑身都兴奋得不停发抖。 灰条和沙风走在前方，正低声交谈，云尾却不耐烦地不停倒换着爪子。 叶爪一时间有些难过松鼠爪没能来这儿，不过让她安心的是，妹妹一点也不介意留下来，还说照顾了一整天长老，正盼着能好好睡一觉呢。 终于，火星抬起尾巴，示意族猫们出发前进。 叶爪跃出山谷边缘，跟在黑莓掌身后冲下山坡，她在灌木丛中穿梭，最后来到了空地上。 粼粼月光下一大群猫聚集在此，有些已经坐在中央大岩石的周围，有些小跑着穿过空地，去问候一个月没见的同伴，还有些卧在灌木丛的遮蔽处闲聊、交换消息。 黑莓掌立刻钻进了猫群，炭毛则走过去准备和

Littlecloud, the ShadowClan medicine cat. Leafpaw hesitated, still a little daunted by the number of warriors in front of her, the unfamiliar scents, and the glowing of so many eyes that all seemed to be trained on her. Then she caught sight of Graystripe with a group of cats who all had the scent of RiverClan. Leafpaw recognized a warrior with dense blue- gray fur whom they had met at the last Gathering, and remembered her name: Mistyfoot, the RiverClan deputy. The two younger warriors were strangers to her, but Graystripe greeted them affectionately, pressing his muzzle against theirs. Leafpaw was just wondering if she would be welcome to go and talk to them when Mistyfoot caught her eye and beckoned to her with her tail. "Hi—it's Leafpaw, isn't it? Cinderpelt's apprentice?" "That's right." Leafpaw padded over. "How are you?" "We're all well, and the Clan is thriving," Mistyfoot replied. "Have you met Stormfur and Feathertail?"

影族的巫医小云。 叶爪犹豫着，眼前这么多武士、各种陌生气味，还有那么多亮闪闪的眼睛似乎都盯着她，她还是有些发怵。 接着她看到灰条和一群带着河族气味的猫待在一起。 叶爪认出了那只长着浓密蓝灰色皮毛的武士，上次集会见过，她记得对方的名字：雾脚，河族的副族长。 那两个年轻武士她都不认识，但灰条亲热地招呼他们，还用自己的口鼻蹭了蹭他们。 叶爪正琢磨着自己过去搭话会不会受欢迎，雾脚就注意到了她，甩尾巴招呼她过去。 “嗨——你是叶爪，对不对？ 炭毛的徒弟对不对？” “没错。” 叶爪轻步走了过去。 “你们最近还好吗？” “我们都很好，族里也兴旺得很，” 雾脚回答道。 “你见过暴毛和羽尾吗？”