Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 "If a cat leaps at you, roll onto your back," Cinderpelt instructed. "Then you can attack his belly with your claws. Try it." Leafpaw waited as her mentor crouched in front of her and then leaped into the air. Rolling over as Cinderpelt had told her, she dug her hind paws into the medicine cat's belly and flung her off to one side. "Good," Cinderpelt meowed. She scrambled to her paws, awkward because of her injured leg. "That's enough for now." The two cats had been training all morning in the sandy hollow, and though thick, gray clouds covered the sky Leafpaw's rumbling belly told her it must be close to sunhigh. She had enjoyed the session with her mentor. The exercise had been a good distraction from her worries about the Clan and the Twolegs, not to mention Squirrelpaw and the other cats who were traveling with her. She followed Cinderpelt down into the ravine. Before they reached the entrance to the

第8章 “要是有猫朝你扑过来，你就滚成背朝上，” 炭毛指导道。 “这样你就能用爪子攻击对方的肚子了。 来试试吧。” 叶爪等着，她的导师伏在她面前，随即跃向空中。 她照着炭毛说的翻了个身，后爪深深蹬进这名巫医的肚子，把她甩到了一边。 “做得好，”炭毛喵声道。 她挣扎着爬起来，因为受伤的腿动作十分笨拙。 “今天就练到这里吧。” 两只猫已经在沙谷训练了一整个上午，厚重的灰云遮着天空，可叶爪咕咕叫的肚子告诉她，已经快到日中了。 她很享受和导师一起训练的时光。 这些训练让她暂时放下了对族群和两脚兽的担忧，更不用去想松鼠爪和和她一同远行的其他猫咪了。 她跟在炭毛身后走下峡谷。 还没等她们走到

gorse tunnel, Leafpaw heard a patrol returning close behind them. Turning, she saw Firestar, Dustpelt, and Sorreltail. Firestar looked more worried than ever, while Dustpelt's brown tabby fur was bristling and his tail lashed furiously from side to side. Cinderpelt limped over to meet Firestar, while Leafpaw hurried to Sorreltail's side. "What in StarClan's name is going on?" "WindClan," Sorreltail mewed, with a glance at the older warriors. "They've been stealing prey from us." Leafpaw remembered the thin, desperate cats who had chased them out of their territory, and knew that she was not surprised at the news. "We found scraps of rabbit fur and bones by the stream near Fourtrees," Sorreltail went on. "They reeked of WindClan scent." "It's because their rabbits have vanished," Leafpaw meowed. She pushed aside a guilty memory of how she had taken fish from RiverClan. "It's still against the warrior code," Sorreltail pointed out. "Dustpelt was furious."

金雀花通道入口，叶爪就听到一支巡逻队紧跟着她们回来了。 她转过身，看到了火星、尘毛和蕨尾。 火星的神情比以往更忧虑，尘毛棕色的虎斑毛炸了起来，尾巴愤怒地甩来甩去。 炭毛一瘸一拐走过去迎接火星，叶爪赶紧跑到蕨尾身边。 “星族在上，到底出什么事了？” “是风族，”蕨尾喵了一声，瞥了一眼年长的武士们。 “他们一直在偷我们的猎物。” 叶爪想起那些瘦得脱形、拼尽全力把她们赶出领地的猫，她一点都不意外这个消息。 “我们在四棵树附近的溪边找到了兔子皮毛和骨头，”蕨尾接着说。 “那上面全是风族的气味。” “这是因为他们的兔子都消失了，”叶爪说道。 她压下了那段愧疚的回忆——她自己还拿过河族的鱼呢。 “可这依然违反武士守则，”蕨尾指出。 “尘毛都气疯了。”

"So I see," meowed Leafpaw. She followed her friend down the gorse tunnel to find Firestar and Dustpelt standing beside the fresh-kill pile. Her belly lurched when she saw how small it was. "Look at it!" Dustpelt gestured with his tail. "How is that going to feed the Clan? You'll have to do something about WindClan, Firestar." Firestar shook his head. "We all know that Tallstar wouldn't allow his warriors to steal prey unless his Clan was in real trouble." "Tallstar might not know what's going on. Besides, ThunderClan is in trouble too. It's not as if we have prey to spare." "I know," Firestar sighed. "I'm worried about Ferncloud," the brown warrior added. "She's already lost a lot of weight, and she still has three kits to feed." "If this goes on, I'll have to start rationing," Firestar decided. "But meanwhile, we will do something about WindClan, I promise." Whirling around, he bounded across the clearing and leaped to the top of the Highrock. As he yowled out the summons, the rest of the

“我看出来了，”叶爪喵道。 她跟着朋友走下金雀花通道，看到火星和尘毛站在新鲜猎物堆旁。 看到猎物堆这么小，她的心猛地一沉。 “看看这！” 尘毛甩尾巴示意道。 “这怎么喂饱整个族群？ 火星，你必须对风族做点什么。” 火星摇了摇头。 “我们都清楚，除非风族真的走投无路，不然高星绝不会允许武士偷猎物。” “高星说不定根本不知道底下发生了什么。 再说雷族也处境艰难， 我们根本没有多余的猎物能分出去。” “我知道，”火星叹了口气。 “我很担心蕨云，”这只棕色武士补充道。 “她已经瘦了好多，还要养三个幼崽。” “再这样下去，我就得开始给猎物配给了，”火星做出决定。 “但我向你们保证，我们一定会处理风族的事。” 他猛地转过身，跃过空地，跳上了高岩顶端。 就在他大声召唤的时候，其余的

Clan began to appear at once. Leafpaw was shocked to see how lean they were; she had never really noticed before the gradual change from day to day as prey got harder to find. But now they looked more like skinny WindClan cats than sturdy, forestborn ThunderClan warriors. Dustpelt was right that Ferncloud in particular looked gaunt and exhausted; her kits were thinner, too, and they trailed after their mother as if they had no energy left to play. Were all the Clans—apart from RiverClan—slowly going to starve? Leafpaw listened anxiously as Firestar told the rest of the Clan what the patrol had discovered. Wails of indignation broke out at the news that WindClan cats had trespassed onto ThunderClan territory and stolen prey. "WindClan needs to be taught a lesson!" Cloudtail called out. "I haven't had the sniff of a rabbit for days." "We should attack now," Mousefur put in, her brown fur bristling. "No," Firestar meowed firmly. "Things are bad enough without us looking for a battle."

族猫立刻开始纷纷赶来。 叶爪惊讶地发现大家都瘦得厉害； 猎物一天天越来越难抓，这种缓慢的变化她之前从来没真正留意过。 可现在他们看起来根本不像健壮、生于森林的雷族武士，反倒更像干瘦的风族猫了。 尘毛说得没错，蕨云尤其憔悴疲惫； 她的幼崽也更瘦，跟在妈妈身后，连玩耍的力气都没有了。 难道所有族群——除了河族——都要慢慢饿死吗？ 叶爪不安地听着火星把巡逻队的发现告诉族里其他猫。 听到风族猫侵入雷族领地偷猎物的消息，族里爆发出愤怒的呼喊。 “得给风族一点教训！” 云尾喊道。 “我都好几天没闻过兔子味了。” “我们现在就进攻，”鼠毛插嘴说，她棕色的毛都炸了起来。 “不行，”火星坚定地说。 “本来处境就够糟了，我们犯不着再挑起战争。”

Mousefur didn't argue, though she muttered something under her breath, and Cloudtail lashed his tail. Leafpaw saw Brightheart meow a few words to him, trying to calm him down. "What are you going to do?" Speckletail called out from the entrance to the elders" den. "Go and ask them nicely not to steal our food? Do you think they'll take any notice?" More voices were raised in protest, with more than one cat echoing Mousefur's demand to attack. "No," Firestar repeated. "I'm going to talk to Tallstar. He's a noble, trustworthy cat; maybe he doesn't know that his warriors have been stealing prey." "And what good will talking do?" Cloudtail snorted. "Blackstar didn't listen when you went to talk to him." "If you ask me," Speckletail rasped, "you're crossing Clan boundaries far too often. The last cat to ignore borders like that was Tigerstar." Leafpaw winced at the old she-cat's suggestion that their leader was anything like the murderous Tigerstar. She wasn't the only cat to

鼠毛没有争辩，只是小声咕哝了几句，云尾猛地甩了甩尾巴。 叶爪看见亮心对着他喵了几声，想让他冷静下来。 "你打算怎么做？" 斑尾从长老巢穴的入口大声喊道。 "去好好跟他们说，别偷我们的食物？ 你觉得他们会听进去吗？" 越来越多猫抗议，不止一只猫附和鼠毛，要求主动进攻。 "不行，"火星重复道。 "我要去找高星谈一谈。 他是高贵可靠的猫，说不定他根本不知道自己的武士在偷猎物。" "谈一谈能有什么用？" 云尾嗤了一声。 "你上次去找黑星谈，他根本不听你的。" "要我说，"斑哑着嗓子说，"你越界也太频繁了。 上一个这么无视边界的猫，就是虎星。" 这只老猫把自己的族长和杀人如麻的虎星混为一谈，叶爪听了不由得缩了一下。 她可不是唯一有

be shocked. Several cats turned on Speckletail, hissing fiercely, but when Firestar replied, his voice was calm. "Tigerstar wanted to satisfy his greed for power. All I want is to make peace. And as for Blackstar," he added to Cloudtail, "Tallstar has always been more reasonable." "That's right." Graystripe supported his leader from where he sat at the base of the Highrock. "Remember when Bluestar wanted to fight WindClan? Tallstar was ready to make peace then." "But there wasn't a shortage of prey back then," Thornclaw reminded him. "Right." Mousefur's tail lashed again. "Some cats will do anything if their bellies are empty." Leafpaw listened in dismay as yowls broke out around her, agreeing with Mousefur. She spotted her mother, Sandstorm, exchanging an anxious glance with Graystripe. Firestar signaled with his tail for silence. "That's enough! My mind's made up. All the Clans are in trouble together now. This is no time to start fighting one another."

一样感受的。 好几只猫转向斑尾，凶巴巴地哈气，可火星开口的时候，声音依旧平静。 "虎星是想要满足自己对权力的贪欲。 我只想要争取和平。 至于黑星，"他对云尾补充道，"高星向来都更讲道理。" "没错。" 灰条坐在高岩脚下，支持自己的族长。 还记得当初蓝星要和风族开战吗？ 那时候高星就愿意讲和呀。" "可那时候猎物根本不短缺呀，"荆棘爪提醒他。 "说得对。" 鼠毛又甩了一下尾巴。 "有些猫肚子饿的时候，什么事都干得出来。" 叶爪满心沮丧地听着，身边响起一片嚎叫，全都在附和鼠毛的话。 她看见自己的妈妈沙风，和灰条交换了一个不安的眼神。 火星摆摆尾巴示意大家安静。 "够了！ 我意已决。 现在所有族群都遇上麻烦了。 这可不是互相开战的时候。"