Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 Stormfur's legs ached and the weight of his rain- sodden fur made his paws stumble painfully over the stones. He felt as if he had been fleeing through the stormy darkness for moons. The whole world seemed to have shrunk to nothing more than rock, wind, and rain. As he scrabbled up a broken rock face he realized that the rain was easing off. Soon it was no more than a spatter driven by the wind. The sky began to clear, the moon struggling to show its light between the clouds. Brambleclaw halted, and the rest of the cats gathered around him. They were standing on a wide ledge; above them was a slope covered with scree, while below the rock fell away into darkness. "I have no idea where we are," Brambleclaw admitted. "I'm sorry, I meant to bring you back the same way we came with the cave-guards, but I've never seen this place before." "It's not your fault," Squirrelpaw meowed, with a glare at Crowpaw as if she expected the

第十七章 石毛的双腿酸痛，被雨水泡透的皮毛沉甸甸的，爪子踩在石头上疼得磕磕绊绊。 他觉得自己仿佛已经在狂风暴雨的黑暗中奔逃了好几个月。 整个世界好像缩得只剩下岩石、狂风和暴雨。 他扒着断裂的岩壁往上爬时，察觉到雨势正在减弱。 没多久就只剩下狂风裹挟的零星雨滴了。 天空开始放晴，月亮努力从云隙间透出光亮。 黑莓掌停下脚步，其余的猫都聚拢到他身边。 他们站在一块宽阔的岩架上； 头顶是铺满碎石的斜坡，脚下的岩壁直落进漆黑的深处。 "我完全不知道我们在哪儿，" 黑莓掌承认道。 "对不起，我本来想顺着当初和部落守卫一起来的路回去，可我从来没见过这个地方。" "不怪你，" 松鼠爪喵声道，一边瞪了鸦爪一眼，好像她料到这只

WindClan apprentice to say something rude. "The rain has washed all the scent away, and it's too dark to see anything." "That's all very well," Tawnypelt pointed out, "but what are we going to do now? If we're not careful, the Tribe cats will catch us." "Or Sharptooth," Feathertail added with a shudder. Stormfur cleared his throat. He was feeling guilty and betrayed that he had ever thought of the Tribe cats as his friends, and he wanted to forget them and everything to do with them as soon as he possibly could. But they had taught him skills that could be useful now, and it would be mouse-brained not to use them. "I think I can find the way," he meowed. "I hunted with the Tribe, remember, more than the rest of you." "You lead, then," Brambleclaw responded immediately. "Just get us out of these mountains." Stormfur warmed a little at the ThunderClan warrior's trust in him. He wouldn't have been surprised if he had lost all Brambleclaw's respect,

风族学徒说出失礼的话。 "雨水把所有气味都冲没了，天又黑得什么都看不清。" "话是这么说，" 褐皮指出，"可我们现在该怎么办？ 要是我们不小心，就会被部落猫抓住。" "还有尖牙呢，" 羽尾打了个哆嗦补充道。 石毛清了清嗓子。 他之前竟然把部落猫当成朋友，现在只觉得愧疚又遭背叛，他巴不得立刻忘掉这些猫，忘掉和他们有关的一切。 可部落教给他的本领现在正好能用，放着不用才是鼠脑袋。 "我觉得我能找到路，" 他喵声道。 "我和部落一起打过猎，还记得吧，我比你们都熟悉这里。" "那就由你来带路，" 黑莓掌立刻回应道。 "只要带我们走出这些山就行。" 雷族武士的信任让石毛心里暖和了一点。 就算他彻底失去黑莓掌的尊重，他也不会觉得意外，

after the way he had settled in among the Tribe cats. He knew now how much Brambleclaw's friendship meant to him. "It'll take a few days to cross the mountains," he warned the tabby warrior, remembering the day Brook had taken him to the top of a high peak and shown him the towering folds of rock stretching endlessly ahead. At least they would have the rising sun to guide them when daylight came. "But I think I can get you out of the Tribe's territory." "The sooner the better," muttered Crowpaw. He was standing so close to Feathertail that their fur touched. There seemed to be an unspoken connection between them, and Stormfur wondered what had happened while he'd been held prisoner in the cave. Stormfur took the lead along the ledge and then diagonally up the scree, his paws slipping on the loose stones. Reaching the ridge, he paused to figure out the direction from the way the moss grew on the rocks and the trunk of a gnarled tree. Guilt swept over him again as he realized how easy it seemed to use Tribe ways, as if he had

毕竟他之前在部落安顿留了下来。 现在他才明白，黑莓掌的友谊对他有多重要。 "穿过山脉得花上好几天，" 他提醒这只虎斑武士，他还记得溪带他登上高峰，指给他看层峦叠嶂的岩壁无止境地向前延伸的模样。 至少等天亮之后，他们可以靠着升起的太阳指路。 "但我应该能把你们带出部落的领地。" "越快越好，" 鸦爪小声嘟囔。 他站得离羽尾极近，皮毛都互相碰到了。 他们之间仿佛有种说不出的默契，石毛忍不住好奇，他被囚禁在山洞里的时候发生了什么事。 石毛带头沿着岩架前行，接着斜着走上碎石坡，爪子在松动的石头上不停打滑。 爬上山脊后，他停下来靠着岩石上苔藓的生长方向，还有一棵扭曲古树的树干辨认方向。 当他发现用部落的方法辨向竟然这么顺手，愧疚再次席卷了他，仿佛他已经

allowed himself to become a Tribe cat instead of a warrior loyal to RiverClan. "What's the matter?" Feathertail asked quietly, coming up to him and brushing her side against his. He should have known she would be able to sense how bad he felt. "I trusted them." Stormfur choked over the words. "Brook and Crag and the rest. I never thought... And then they took me prisoner, and the rest of you risked your lives to get me out of there." "We couldn't leave you." Feathertail let out a comforting purr. "They never told me anything about the prophecy, you know, not all the time we were hunting together. It was just as much of a shock to me when Stoneteller told us about it in the Cave of Pointed Stones." "Yes, we know," his sister murmured. "But do we have to stand here talking about it?" Crowpaw demanded disagreeably as he joined them on the ridge. "Let's just get moving." "They must have been wrong." Stormfur ignored the WindClan apprentice, holding

允许自己变成部落猫，而不是忠于河族的武士。 "怎么了？" 羽尾轻声询问，走到他身边用自己的侧腹蹭了蹭他。 他本该知道，妹妹能感觉到他心情有多糟。 "我信了他们。" 石毛哽咽着说出这句话。 溪、石掠和其他伙伴。 我从来没想过…… 结果他们把我抓成囚犯，你们还冒着生命危险救我出来。" "我们不可能丢下你。" 羽尾发出安抚的呼噜声。 "他们从来没跟我说过任何关于预言的事，真的，我们一起打猎的那么久，半个字都没提。 石兆在尖石洞告诉我们这件事的时候，我跟你们一样吃惊。" "是啊，我们知道，" 他的妹妹轻声说。 "难道我们非要站在这里聊这个吗？" 鸦爪不满地质问道，一边走到山脊上和他们会合。 "我们赶紧动身吧。" "他们一定是错的。" 石毛没有理会这只风族学徒，攥着

Feathertail's gaze and trying to convince himself as much as her. "I can't be the promised cat, right? It doesn't make sense." "No, of course not," Feathertail mewed. "Don't blame yourself, Stormfur. None of us realized what was going on. And the Tribe, they aren't bad cats—just desperate." Stormfur hoped his sister couldn't see the guilt that clawed deep inside his belly. What if the prophecy was true, and the Tribe of Endless Hunting really had chosen him to help the Tribe cats? StarClan had chosen four cats to save the forest, but he was not one of them. He had come on the journey because he couldn't bear to see Feathertail leave without him. Now he wondered whether somehow the Tribe of Endless Hunting had influenced his decision so that he would be in the right place to destroy Sharptooth. But then he had turned his back on the Tribe at the time when they needed help the most. He remembered watching Sharptooth leave the cave, his fierce jaws gripping Star as she yowled vainly for help. What if the next cat to die was Crag? What if it was Brook? A picture came into

迎着羽尾的目光，这话更多是在说服他自己，也是说给羽尾听的。 "我不可能就是预言里的那只猫，对不对？ 这根本说不通。" "不，当然不是你，"羽尾轻声说。 "别责怪你自己，暴毛。 我们谁都没料到事情会变成这样。 急水部落也不是坏猫，他们只是走投无路了而已。" 暴毛希望妹妹没发现，愧疚正像爪子一样，深深抓着他的心窝。 如果预言是真的，无尽狩猎部落真的选了他来帮助部落猫呢？ 星族选了四只猫拯救森林，可他根本不在其中。 他跟着踏上这场旅程，只是因为他没法忍受看着羽尾独自离开。 现在他忍不住猜想，会不会是无尽狩猎部落影响了他的决定，让他刚好出现在能除掉尖牙的位置。 可偏偏在部落最需要帮助的时候，他背弃了他们。 他还记得那天看着尖牙离开山洞，它凶猛的大颌叼着星，星徒劳地哀叫求救。 如果下一个死去的是石崖呢？ 如果死去的是溪儿呢？ 一幅画面浮现在

Stormfur's mind of the beautiful she-cat trapped in those savage teeth, and he desperately tried to push it away. He shivered, hardly aware that the rest of his friends were waiting for him. "Is there something wrong?" Brambleclaw asked. Stormfur shook himself. "No," he meowed. "It's this way." On the other side of the ridge, the ground fell away into a slope broken up by shallow precipices, low enough for a cat to leap down from one level to the next. As he crouched on the edge of one of these, he saw a roosting mountain bird just below him. Squirrelpaw, at his shoulder, prodded him and pointed with her ears. To be on the safe side, Stormfur flicked his tail lightly across her jaws and signaled to the rest of the cats for silence. "I'll get it," he whispered. "You stay here." He was appalled by the way his new skills seemed natural to him, as if he had known them all his life. The bird was on a narrow ledge, so he could not leap down on it without risking a bad

暴毛的脑海里，美丽的母猫被困在那对凶牙之间，他拼命想把这幅画面推开。 他浑身发抖，几乎没察觉到其他伙伴都在等他。 "出什么事了吗？" 黑莓掌问道。 暴毛晃了晃身子。 "没事，"他喵声道。 "往这边走。" 山脊的另一边，地势向下倾斜，沿路分布着浅浅的悬崖，每一层落差都够猫跳下去。 他蹲在一处悬崖边时，看见一只歇脚的山鸟就在他下方。 松鼠爪站在他肩头，碰了碰他，用耳朵示意那个方向。 为了稳妥起见，暴毛轻轻甩了下尾巴扫过她的嘴，示意其他猫保持安静。 "我去抓它，"他低声说。 "你们待在这儿。" 他自己都十分吃惊，这些新技能居然用得这么顺手，就像他天生就会一样。 那只鸟停在狭窄的岩架上，直接跳下去抓它，很可能会遭遇严重的