Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 Leafpaw wrinkled her nose at the foul scent and tried not to hiss in disgust. Shaking her head, she parted Sorreltail's tortoiseshell fur with one paw and dabbed the wad of bile-soaked moss on the tick clinging to her shoulder. Sorreltail wriggled as she felt the bile soak through her fur. "That's better!" she meowed. "Has it gone yet?" Leafpaw opened her mouth and dropped the twig that held the moss. "Give it time." "There's only one good thing about ticks," Sorreltail mewed. "They hate mouse bile just as much as we do." Springing to her paws, she gave herself a vigorous shake and flicked the tick off her shoulder. "There! Thanks, Leafpaw." A breeze rustled through the trees that surrounded the medicine cat's den. A few leaves drifted down; there was a chill in the morning air that warned Leafpaw of how few moons there were before leaf-bare. This time there would be more than the cold and shortage of prey to face. Leafpaw closed her eyes and shuddered as she

第二章 叶爪闻到这股难闻的气味皱起鼻子，强忍着没有嫌恶地嘶叫出来。 她摇摇头，伸出一只爪子分开斑毛玳瑁色的皮毛，把浸了胆汁的苔藓团按在她肩膀上附着的蜱虫上。 斑毛感觉到胆汁渗进皮毛，忍不住扭动了一下身子。 "这下好多啦！" 她喵声道。 "蜱虫走了没？" 叶爪张开嘴，放下夹着苔藓的细树枝。 "再给它一点时间。" "蜱虫也不是全没好处，"斑毛喵道。 "它们和我们一样，都讨厌老鼠胆汁呀。" 她一跃站起身，用力抖了抖身子，把蜱虫从肩膀弹了下去。 "搞定啦！ 谢啦，叶爪。" 一阵风吹过巫医巢穴周围的树林，树叶沙沙作响。 几片叶子飘了下来； 清晨的空气带着寒意，提醒叶爪距离秃叶季已经没几个月了。 这一回，他们要面对的可不只是严寒和猎物短缺。 叶爪闭上眼睛，浑身一颤，此刻她

remembered what she had seen the day before on patrol with her father, Firestar. The biggest monster the cats had ever seen had been forging a dreadful path through the forest, scoring deep ruts into the earth and tearing up trees by their roots. The huge, shiny monster had rolled inexorably through the bracken, roaring and belching smoke while the cats scattered helplessly before it. For the first time, Leafpaw began to understand the danger to the forest, which had been prophesied twice now, once in Brambleclaw's dream that had sent him on the journey with Squirrelpaw, and once in Cinderpelt's vision of fire and tiger. The doom that had been foretold was coming upon the forest, and Leafpaw did not know what any cat could do to stop it. "Are you okay, Leafpaw?" meowed Sorreltail. Leafpaw blinked. The vision of smoke, splintered trees, and shrieking cats faded away, to be replaced by soft green ferns and the smooth gray rock where Cinderpelt made her den. She was safe, ThunderClan was still here—but for how long? "Yes, I'm fine," she replied. Firestar

想起了前一天和父亲火星一起巡逻时看到的景象。 众猫见过的最大的怪物在森林里闯出一条可怕的路，在地上犁出深深的车辙，还把大树连根拔起。 这个硕大发亮的怪物势不可挡地滚过蕨丛，咆哮着喷出黑烟，猫群只能无助地四散奔逃。 叶爪第一次真正明白森林面临的危险，这场危险已经被预言了两次：一次在让黑莓掌和松鼠爪踏上旅程的梦里，另一次在炭毛关于火与虎的幻象中。 预言中的末日正在降临森林，叶爪不知道有哪只猫能阻止它。 "你没事吧，叶爪？"斑毛喵问道。 叶爪眨了眨眼睛。 满是浓烟、断树和尖叫猫咪的幻象渐渐褪去，眼前变回了柔软的绿色蕨草，还有炭毛筑巢的光滑灰岩石。 她很安全，雷族还在这里——但还能维持多久呢？ "没事，我很好，"她回答道。 火星

had ordered the patrol to keep quiet about what they had seen until he had decided how to break the news to the Clan. "I've got to go and wash this mouse bile off my paws." "I'll come with you," Sorreltail offered. "Then we could go along the ravine and pick up some fresh-kill." Leafpaw led the way into the main clearing. Whitepaw and Shrewpaw were scuffling outside the apprentices" den in warm shafts of early morning sunlight, while Ferncloud's three kits watched them with huge admiring eyes. Their mother sat at the entrance to the nursery, washing herself while keeping one eye on her litter. The dawn patrol—Dustpelt, Mousefur, and Spiderpaw—was just pushing its way into the clearing through the gorse tunnel, Dustpelt's eyes narrowing with pleasure as he caught sight of Ferncloud and his kits. Leafpaw gazed at the busy, peaceful camp, and could hardly keep back a wail of despair. As soon as the apprentices spotted Leafpaw, they stopped their practice fight and stared at her, then started whispering urgently together.

已经下令巡逻队对所见之事保密，等他想好如何向全族通报再说。 "我得去把爪子上的鼠胆汁洗掉。" "我跟你一起去，"斑毛主动说道。 "之后我们可以沿着峡谷走，找点新鲜猎物。" 叶爪带路走进了主营地。 白爪和鼩爪在学徒巢穴外打闹，清晨温暖的阳光洒在他们身上，蕨风的三只幼崽睁着大大的眼睛，崇拜地看着他们。 他们的妈妈坐在育婴室门口，一边舔毛，一边留意着自己的幼崽。 黎明巡逻队——尘皮、鼠毛和蜘蛛爪——刚穿过金雀花通道走进营地，尘皮看到蕨风和他的幼崽，开心地眯起了眼睛。 叶爪望着这片热闹平和的营地，几乎忍不住要发出绝望的哀号。 学徒们一看见叶爪，就停下了练习打斗，盯着她看，接着立刻凑在一起急切地窃窃私语。

Even the cats in the returning patrol gave her an uneasy look as they padded over to the fresh-kill pile. Leafpaw knew that rumors about yesterday's patrol were starting to fly around the camp. At daybreak Firestar had called his deputy, Graystripe; Leafpaw's mother, Sandstorm; and Cinderpelt into a meeting in his den, and every cat had begun to suspect that something unusual had happened the day before. Before she and Sorreltail could reach the gorse tunnel, Firestar appeared from his den at the foot of the Highrock. Graystripe and Sandstorm followed him out into the clearing with Cinderpelt limping after them. Firestar leaped to the top of the rock, leaving the other three cats to find comfortable places to sit at its base. In the slanting leaf-fall sun, his flame- colored pelt blazed like the fire that gave him his name. "Let all those cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting," he called. Leafpaw felt her belly lurch as Sorreltail nudged her gently toward the front of the

就连返程巡逻队的猫，在走向新鲜猎物堆的时候，都不安地看了她一眼。 叶爪知道，关于昨天巡逻的流言已经开始在营地里传开了。 天刚亮，火星就召来了副族长灰条； 叶爪的妈妈沙风； 还有炭毛到他的巢穴开会，所有猫都开始怀疑前一天出了不同寻常的事。 她和斑毛还没走到金雀花通道，火星就从高岩脚下的巢穴走了出来。 灰条和沙风跟着他走到空地上，炭毛一瘸一拐跟在后面。 火星跳上高岩顶端，让另外三只猫在高岩脚下找舒服的地方坐下。 在落叶季斜洒的阳光下，他火焰色的皮毛像赋予他名字的火一样熠熠发亮。 "所有能独立捕猎的猫，都到高岩下集合参加族会，"他喊道。 叶爪只觉得心头一沉，斑毛轻轻推着她朝

gathering cats. "You know what he's going to say, don't you?" the tortoiseshell warrior murmured. Leafpaw nodded bleakly. "I knew something weird happened yesterday," Sorreltail went on. "You all came back looking as if the whole of ShadowClan was clawing at your tails." "I wish it were just that," Leafpaw muttered. "Cats of ThunderClan," Firestar began, then paused to take a deep breath. "I... I don't know if any Clan leader has ever had to take his Clan into the darkness that I see ahead." His voice faltered and his eyes met Sandstorm's, seeming to draw strength from the she-cat's steady gaze. "Some time ago, Ravenpaw warned me about more Twoleg activity on the Thunderpath. Back then, I didn't think it was important, and there was nothing we could do anyway because that is not our territory. But yesterday..." A tense silence had fallen in the clearing. Firestar did not often sound so serious; Leafpaw could see how reluctant he was to go on, how he had to force himself to speak. "My patrol was not far from Snakerocks when

聚集起来的猫群。 “你知道他要说什么，对不对？” 玳瑁武士轻声嘟囔道。 叶爪阴郁地点了点头。 “我就知道昨天出事了，”柳须接着说。 “你们回来那模样，就好像整个影族都在追着挠你们尾巴。” “要是真只是那样就好了，”叶爪低声说。 “雷族的猫们，”火星开口，顿了顿深吸一口气。 “我…… 我不知道有没有哪个族群族长，曾像我这样，要带领族群走进眼前这片黑暗。” 他声音发颤，目光对上沙风，仿佛要从这只母猫坚定的目光里汲取力量。 “前些天，鸦爪警告过我，雷鬼路上的两脚兽活动变多了。 那时候我没当回事，而且那不是我们的领地，我们本来也什么都做不了。 可昨天……” 空地上顿时弥漫开紧张的寂静。 火星很少这么严肃； 叶爪看得出来，他很不想往下说，是硬逼着自己开口的。 “我的巡逻队走到蛇岩不远处的时候

we saw a Twoleg monster leave the Thunderpath. It tore into the earth and pushed trees over. It—" "But that's ridiculous!" Sootfur interrupted. "Monsters never leave the Thunderpath." "This isn't another of his dreams, is it?" Dustpelt's question was too low for Firestar to hear, though Leafpaw caught the muttered words. "A tough bit of fresh-kill too late at night?" "Shut up and listen." Cloudtail, Firestar's kin, glared at Dustpelt. "I saw it too," Graystripe confirmed from his place at the foot of the rock. Dead silence followed his words. Leafpaw watched the cats glance at one another with uncertainty and fear in their eyes. Sorreltail turned to Leafpaw. "Is that really what you saw?" Leafpaw nodded. "You can't imagine what it was like." "What does Cinderpelt have to say?" Speckletail called from where she sat among the elders. "Has StarClan shown you anything?" The medicine cat rose to her paws and faced

我们看见一只两脚兽怪物开下了雷鬼路。 它刨开泥土，把大树都撞倒了。 它——”“这太荒唐了！” 烟毛打断了火星的话。 “怪物从来不会离开雷鬼路。” “这不会又是他做的梦吧？” 尘皮的问题压得很低，火星没听见，可叶爪听清了这句咕哝。 “该不会是深夜吃了难消化的鲜肉闹糊涂了吧？” “闭嘴，好好听着。” 火星的亲戚云尾怒视着尘皮。 “我也看见了，”灰条在岩石脚边开口确认道。 他说完之后，全场死一般安静。 叶爪看着众猫面面相觑，眼睛里满是不安和恐惧。 柳须转向叶爪。 “你们真的看见了这个？” 叶爪点了点头。 “你根本想象不到那场面有多可怕。” “炭毛对此怎么说？” 褐斑从长老堆里开口喊道。 “星族给过你们什么提示吗？” 这位巫医站起身，面向