Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14 Feathertail gazed back helplessly at the tunnel entrance as the cave-guards thrust her out of the tunnel and back into the main cave. She felt unseen claws tearing into her heart with every step she took away from her brother. What did Stoneteller mean, that Stormfur was the promised cat who would save the Tribe from Sharptooth? True, her brother was a strong and brave warrior, more skilled at fighting than any of the other cats on this journey. But if Sharptooth was as huge and terrible as the Tribe cats said, what could even the bravest warrior do? "Please," she meowed to one of the cave- guards, a huge mud-colored tabby whose name was Scree Beneath Winter Sky, "you can't keep Stormfur here. He belongs with us." There was sympathy in the Tribe cat's eyes, but he still shook his head. "No. He is the cat sent here by the Tribe of Endless Hunting. They told us a silver cat would come." "But—" "Don't try to argue with them," Crowpaw

第14章 岩谷守卫把羽尾推出隧道赶回主洞穴时，羽尾无助地回头望向隧道入口。 每离弟弟远一步，她都感觉有看不见的爪子在撕碎她的心。 石预言家说暴风就是注定要来拯救部落脱离尖牙魔爪的应许之猫，这话到底是什么意思？ 没错，她弟弟强壮又勇敢，打斗本领比同行的所有猫都要高超。 可要是尖牙真像部落猫说的那样庞大可怕，就算最勇敢的战士又能做什么呢？ "求求你，"她对其中一位岩谷守卫央求道，这只大块头泥色虎斑猫名叫冬夜空下碎石鸣，"你不能把暴风留在这里。 他本该和我们在一起。" 这只部落猫眼中透着同情，可他还是摇了摇头。 "不。他就是无尽猎场部落送到这里的猫。 他们告诉我们，会有一只银猫来到这里。" "可是——" "别跟他们争辩了，"鸦爪

growled into Feathertail's ear. "There's no point. If we have to fight to get Stormfur out, then that's what we'll do." Feathertail looked at the WindClan cat's bristling fur and the fierce courage in his eyes. "We can't," she mewed sorrowfully. "There are too many of them." "I don't see why the Tribe is so worried about Sharptooth." Crowpaw's voice was scornful. "We haven't seen a whisker of him since we arrived, so what's the big deal?" "Be thankful you haven't seen him," Scree meowed. Crowpaw bared his teeth, but this time he didn't spring at the guard, just turned away and touched his nose to Feathertail's muzzle. He would have fought the whole of StarClan for her, Feathertail knew that, but he had to see that this time fighting would do no good. The cave-guards herded the Clan cats across the cave until they reached their sleeping hollows. "What's going on?" Brambleclaw mewed in surprise. "Aren't you throwing us out?"

凑到羽尾的耳边低吼道。 "争也没有用。 如果非得打一架把暴风救出来，那我们就打。" 羽尾看着这只风族猫炸起的毛发，还有他眼里燃着的熊熊勇气。 "我们不能这么做，"她难过地轻声说道。 "他们的猫太多了。" "我真不明白部落为什么这么害怕尖牙。" 鸦爪的语气满是不屑。 "我们来到这里后连他一根胡须都没见过，有什么好大惊小怪的？" "你没见过他才该庆幸呢，"斯克利开口说道。 鸦爪龇出了牙齿，但这次他没有扑向守卫，只是转过身，用鼻尖碰了碰羽尾的鼻头。 羽尾清楚，为了她，他就算和整个星族开战都愿意，可他得明白，这次打架根本没用。 岩谷守卫赶着族群猫穿过洞穴，一直把他们带到睡觉的凹洞。 "这是怎么回事？" 黑莓掌惊讶地问道。 "你们不是要把我们赶出去吗？"

"Into the night?" The mud-colored guard sounded indignant. "We're not cruel. It's cold out there and dangerous. You can eat and rest here, and leave in the morning." "With Stormfur?" Tawnypelt challenged. Scree shook his head. "No. I'm sorry." The cave-guards left them, except for Scree and another who remained on watch a few tail- lengths away. A couple of to-bes trotted over with fresh-kill in their jaws. "Isn't it great?" the first of them mewed excitedly, dropping the prey he carried. "No more Sharptooth!" "Shut up, beetle-brain," growled his friend, giving him a sharp prod in the flank. "You know Crag told us not to talk to them." They retreated quickly, glancing around to make sure no cat had spotted them disobeying orders. "I'm not eating that!" Crowpaw spat, glaring at the small pile of fresh-kill. "I don't want anything from the Tribe." "Great StarClan!" Tawnypelt let out a noisy sigh. "How's that going to help, you stupid

"赶到外面过夜？" 这只泥色守卫听上去十分气愤。 "我们又不残忍。 外面又冷又危险。 你们可以在这里吃饭休息，早上再离开。" "那暴风也要跟我们一起走？"褐皮质疑道。 斯克利摇了摇头。 "不行，我很抱歉。" 岩谷守卫们都离开了，只留下斯克利和另一只守卫，在几尾远的地方放哨。 两名准武士叼着新鲜猎物小跑过来。 "这不是很棒吗？" 第一只准武士兴奋地说着，放下了他叼来的猎物。 "尖牙再也不能祸害我们了！" "闭嘴，笨甲虫，"他的同伴吼了一声，狠狠撞了下他的腰侧。 "你知道峭壁不让我们跟他们说话。" 他们很快退了回去，还不停张望，确认没有猫发现他们违抗命令。 "我才不吃这个！" 鸦爪啐了一口，怒视着那一小堆新鲜猎物。 "我不想要部落的任何东西。" "伟大的星族啊！" 褐皮大声叹了一口气。 这能帮上什么忙啊，你这笨

furball? You need your strength twice as much now—to save the forest and to save Stormfur." Crowpaw muttered something inaudible, but made no other protest as he dragged a falcon out of the heap. "Well?" Squirrelpaw demanded when they had divided the rest of the fresh-kill and were crouched close together to eat. "We're not putting up with this, are we? What are we going to do?" "There's not very much we can do," Brambleclaw pointed out. "There aren't enough of us to fight the cave-guards." "You're not going to leave him?" Squirrelpaw's green eyes were wide with disbelief. Brambleclaw paused; Feathertail could see an agony of indecision in his expression. She began to shiver. Since they left the forest she had come to respect the young warrior's skills as the unelected leader of their group; if he could not see what to do, then what hope was there for Stormfur? "We should never have come into these

毛球？ 你现在更需要养好力气——既要拯救森林，也要救出暴风。" 鸦爪嘟囔了几句没人听清的话，没有再抗议，还从猎物堆里拖出了一只隼。 "那我们接下来怎么办？"分完剩下的猎物，大家挤在一起准备吃东西时，松鼠爪追问道。 "我们不能就这么忍了，对不对？ 我们到底要做什么？" "我们确实没什么能做的，"黑莓掌指出。 "我们的猫太少，打不过岩谷守卫。" "你真要把他丢在这里不管？" 松鼠爪碧绿的眼睛睁得大大的，满是难以置信。 黑莓掌顿住了，羽尾能看出他满脸纠结，犹豫不决。 她忍不住开始发抖。 离开森林后，她早就认可这位年轻武士的能力，他是这群猫默认的领袖； 连他都不知道该怎么做的话，暴风还有什么希望呢？ 我们根本就不该踏入这

mountains," growled Tawnypelt. "It's a hundred times worse than Twolegplace. Midnight mentioned cats in a Tribe, so she must have known about Sharptooth. Why did she send us this way?" "It must have been a trick all along," Crowpaw hissed. "I knew we should never have trusted that badger." "But why would she trick us?" Brambleclaw objected. "StarClan sent us to her, and she warned us about the Twolegs destroying the forest. If we can't trust her, then nothing makes sense." Feathertail wanted to agree with him, but she suddenly remembered something Purdy had said, when they were discussing which way to go at the edge of the wood. "Purdy tried to tell us not to come through the mountains," she meowed out loud. "And Midnight wouldn't let him speak. You're right. They both knew." She looked around and saw her alarm reflected in the faces of her friends. "Midnight said we would need courage," Brambleclaw reminded her after a heavy pause.

‘这些山，’褐皮低吼道。 这儿比两脚兽的地盘糟糕一百倍。 午夜提过一个部落的猫，所以她肯定早就知道尖牙的事。 她为什么要把我们往这儿引？ ‘从一开始这就是个圈套，’鸦爪嘶声道。 ‘我早就知道不该相信那只獾。’ ‘可她为什么要骗我们？’ 黑莓掌反驳道。 ‘星族派我们去找她，她也提醒过我们两脚兽要毁掉森林。 要是连她都不能信，那一切都讲不通了。’ 羽尾本来想同意他的话，可她突然想起，之前他们在林边商量走哪条路时，珀蒂说过的一番话。 ‘珀蒂本来想劝我们别翻这座山，’她大声说道。 ‘可午夜不让他说话。 你说对了。 他们俩都知情。’ 她环顾四周，发现朋友们脸上也都露出了和她一样的惊慌。 ‘午夜说过我们需要勇气，’黑莓掌沉默好一阵后提醒她道。

"She said our path was laid out for us. So even if she knew about the Tribe and Sharptooth, there must be a way we can get through this. That makes me think that we must still be following the right path." "So you say," Crowpaw sneered. "I don't suppose it matters to a ThunderClan warrior if a cat from RiverClan gets left behind." "And what does it matter to WindClan?" Squirrelpaw fired up in defense of her Clanmate. "I'd have thought you'd be delighted if Feathertail's brother weren't here to keep an eye on you." Crowpaw sprang to his paws, hissing a challenge. Squirrelpaw's green eyes blazed. Horrified, Feathertail forced herself to get up and shoulder Crowpaw away. "Stop it!" she cried. "Can't you see you're making it worse?" "Feathertail's right," meowed Tawnypelt. "What Clan we come from doesn't matter here. Four of us are half-Clan anyway—have you ever thought StarClan might have chosen us because of that? If we quarrel among ourselves, then we'll

‘她说我们要走的路早就定好了。 所以就算她知道部落和尖牙的事，也肯定有办法让我们闯过去。 我觉得我们走的路一定还是对的。’ ‘你说的倒好听，’鸦爪嗤笑道。 ‘就算留下一只河族猫不管，对雷族武士来说也无所谓吧。’ ‘那这跟风族又有什么关系？’ 松鼠爪一下子炸毛，站出来帮自己的族友说话。 ‘我看你肯定巴不得羽尾的哥哥不在这儿盯着你吧。’ 鸦爪腾地站起身，嘶嘶叫着要动手。 松鼠爪的绿眼睛燃着熊熊怒火。 羽尾又惊又慌，硬撑着站起来，用肩膀撞开鸦爪。 ‘别打了！’ 她喊道。 ‘你看不出你把事情闹得更糟了吗？’ ‘羽尾说的对，’褐皮开口道。 ‘我们来自哪个族群，在这儿根本不重要。 我们四个本来就是半族猫，你没想过星族会不会正因为这点才选中我们吗？ 要是我们自己先吵起来，我们就会