Chapter 25 Epilogue

EPILOGUE Squirrelpaw was trapped in a small, dark space that rocked violently from side to side. Her head spun, and she swallowed the bile that rose in her stomach. Her paws scraped frantically on something smooth and solid. She let out a terrified yowl: "Leafpaw!" Then her eyes flew open and she found herself scrambling in a shallow dip in the ground. "What's the matter? Yowling like that, you'll scare all the prey." Tawnypelt was standing over her; she had dropped a plump, fresh-caught vole so that she could speak. The five Clan cats had left the mountains last night and were traveling across open moorland. The rising sun, relentlessly showing them the way they must go, had just cleared the horizon. Squirrelpaw heaved herself out of her nest and shook scraps of grass from her pelt. "Nothing. It was just a dream." She gave her chest fur a few licks to try to hide how shaken she was. Her sister was in terrible danger; she knew that the

尾声 松鼠爪被困在狭小黑暗的空间里，四周正剧烈地左右摇晃。 她头晕目眩，硬生生把胃里翻涌上来的胆汁咽了回去。 她的爪子拼命挠着一块又硬又滑的东西。 她害怕地嚎叫起来：“叶爪！” 接着她猛地睁开眼，发现自己正扒拉着地上的一个浅坑。 “怎么了？ 叫这么大声，你会把所有猎物都吓跑的。” 褐皮站在她跟前， 她刚放下一只刚捉到的肥田鼠，开口对她说话。 五只族群猫昨夜离开了山区，此刻正在开阔的荒原上行进。 刚跃过地平线的朝阳，直直照着他们该走的路。 松鼠爪撑起身子离开睡窝，抖掉了皮毛上的草屑。 “没什么， 只是做了个梦而已。” 她舔了几下胸口的毛，想掩饰自己有多震惊慌乱。 她的妹妹正身陷险境，她清楚地感觉到

dream had taken her to wherever Leafpaw was, and shown her the terror she was feeling, but Squirrelpaw guessed that the practical Tawnypelt wouldn't understand her fears. Tawnypelt was looking faintly interested. "Was it a sign from StarClan?" "No." Squirrelpaw knew she could share some of the details of her dream, without telling Tawnypelt it had connected her with Leafpaw. "I... I felt like I was trapped somewhere dark. I didn't know where I was, and I couldn't escape." Awkwardly, Tawnypelt stepped forward and pressed her muzzle against Squirrelpaw's side. "I think we've all had bad dreams," she meowed. "Ever since Feathertail..." Squirrelpaw nodded. Like all of them, she found it hard to believe that they would never see Feathertail again. The Tribe cats had helped them to bury her, beside the pool where the waterfall fell endlessly, churning up spray that made the ground soft enough to dig. "She has a place of honor here," Stoneteller had meowed. "We will keep her memory alive for as long as our Tribe survives."

这个梦把她带去了叶爪身边，让她感受到了叶爪正在承受的恐惧，但松鼠爪觉得务实的褐皮不会懂她的担忧。 褐皮稍稍来了点兴趣。 “是星族给的预兆吗？” “不是。” 松鼠爪觉得自己可以说一点梦的细节，不用告诉褐皮这个梦连通了她和叶爪。 “我……我觉得自己被困在黑漆漆的地方。 我不知道那是哪里，也逃不出去。” 褐皮有些局促地走上前，把鼻子贴在了松鼠爪的身侧。 “我想我们都做过噩梦，”她轻声说。 “自从羽尾……” 松鼠爪点了点头。 和大家一样，她也很难接受再也见不到羽尾的事实。 部落猫帮他们把羽尾葬在水潭边，瀑布不停倾泻而下，溅起的水花把泥土泡得松软，刚好能挖墓。 “她在这里享有荣耀，”尖石巫师说。 “只要我们部落还存在一天，我们就永远铭记她。”

That had been small comfort for the Clan cats. Crowpaw in particular was shattered by grief, spending all the next day crouched beside Feathertail's grave. Stormfur kept vigil with him, racked by guilt that he had done nothing to save Feathertail, and had not even imagined that she might be the chosen cat. Her silver fur had been slicked black with water when they first emerged from the waterfall, which was why the tribe cats hadn't paid any attention to her. At last Brambleclaw had ordered them both inside the cave to rest. "We're leaving at dawn," the ThunderClan warrior had told them. "You'll need all your strength. Our Clans need us." The journey had begun again. The Tribe cats had escorted them part of the way through the mountains, and they soon came to easier country with flat green grass and hedgerows to provide prey. But they felt no sense of hope or relief that they would soon be home. Their hearts stayed with Feathertail, in the land of rocks and water. Squirrelpaw soon recovered enough from her nightmare to help with the hunting so that they

这点安慰对这群族群猫来说太微薄了。 尤其是鸦爪，他彻底被悲痛击垮，第二天一整天都蹲在羽尾的墓旁。 暴毛陪着他一起守墓，满心愧疚，他没能救下羽尾，甚至从未想到被选中的会是她。 他们刚从瀑布出来时，羽尾银色的皮毛被水浸得发黑，所以部落猫一开始根本没注意到她。 最后黑莓掌命令他俩回洞穴休息。 “我们天一亮就出发，”这位雷族武士对他们说。 “你们得攒足力气。 我们的族群需要我们。” 旅程再次开启了。 部落猫护送他们走了一段山路，很快他们就到了好走的地方，这里有平整的绿草和树篱，能找到不少猎物。 可哪怕很快就要到家，他们也没有一丝希望或是轻松。 他们的心留在了羽尾身边，留在那片山石与流水的土地上。 松鼠爪很快从噩梦中缓过来，帮忙打猎，好让他们

could get going and make the most of the rapidly shortening days. Though no cat wanted to eat, they forced themselves to gulp down the fresh- kill. Once or twice Stormfur caught himself looking around to ask Feathertail something, before he remembered that he would never speak to her again. All that day and the next they traveled on, until their paws were cracked and bleeding. It was as if the horrors they had seen had numbed them to everyday pain. The sun was going down behind them again as they came to the top of a rise. Their shadows streamed out ahead of them, pointing toward a hill with a jagged crest. It seemed to smolder in scarlet fire from the rays of the setting sun. "Look!" Tawnypelt's voice was an exhausted croak. For a few heartbeats no cat spoke. Then Squirrelpaw's green eyes flashed with a fire that had seemed dimmed forever by Feathertail's death. "Highstones!" she exclaimed. "We're almost home."

趁早出发，充分利用日渐变短的白日。 虽然没谁吃得下东西，他们还是强迫自己吞下了新鲜猎物。 有一两回，暴毛下意识转头想叫羽尾，才想起他再也不能和她说话了。 他们就这样走了一天又一天，直到爪子磨裂流血。 就好像他们经历的那些恐惧已经让他们对日常的疼痛麻木了。 他们走到山丘顶端时，太阳又一次落到了身后。 他们的影子长长拖在身前，指向一座山脊崎岖的小山。 落日的红光照在山上，仿佛整座山都燃着赤红的火焰。 “看！” 褐皮的声音沙哑，满是疲惫。 好几秒钟，没有一只猫开口说话。 接着松鼠爪绿色的眼睛里燃起了光芒，那光芒曾因羽尾的死仿佛永远熄灭了。 “高石山！” 她惊呼道。 “我们快到家了！”