Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21 A bitter wind blew down from the mountains as the Clans joined the trail that led into the towering peaks. Heavy clouds blanketed the sky, and Leafpaw could tell by their yellow tinge that it would soon start snowing. Brambleclaw and Stormfur were leading them along the side of a steep valley. It was as different from the forest as Leafpaw could possibly imagine. There were only a few trees, gnarled and stunted, clinging to the smooth gray stone, with nowhere that prey might live. Moons of desperate hunger had left the WindClan cats" fur thin and useless against the chill, but they plodded grimly on with their heads down. Tallstar looked as brittle as a leaf, often leaning on Onewhisker, who rarely strayed from his side. ShadowClan looked little better, their eyes weary and their pace slow, and RiverClan appeared shabby, their gleaming coats nothing but a memory, half-forgotten, like the days when every cat had enough to eat. One of Tallpoppy's kits gazed up at the crags

第二十一章 刺骨寒风从山上吹来，族群猫们踏上了通往巍峨高峰的小径。 厚重的乌云遮蔽了天空，叶爪从云泛黄的色调看出，很快就要下雪了。 棘爪和石毛带着队伍沿着陡峭的山谷侧壁前行。 这里和森林的差别，比叶爪能想象到的还要大。 只有几棵歪扭矮小的树，紧紧贴在光滑的灰岩石上，根本没有猎物能藏身的地方。 接连好几个月忍饥挨饿，风族猫的皮毛变得稀薄挡不住寒气，可它们还是低着头，默默艰难地往前走。 高星看起来枯脆得像一片干叶子，常常靠在一根须身上，一根须也几乎从不离开他身旁。 影族也好不到哪儿去，个个眼神疲惫脚步缓慢；河族更是狼狈，曾经油光水滑的皮毛只剩模糊回忆，就像每只猫都能吃饱的日子，快被彻底遗忘了。 高罂粟的一只幼崽抬头望着峭壁

with eyes as wide as an owl's. "Are we really going up there?" "Yes," Tallpoppy answered bleakly. Morningflower paused, then stiffly lifted one paw and grazed her tongue across its pad. "Are you all right?" Leafpaw asked the elderly she-cat. Blood welled between Morningflower's claws. Leafpaw looked farther up the line, where Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw padded side by side. "Squirrelpaw!" Squirrelpaw turned at once. "Can we stop? I need to dress Morningflower's paw." "I'll tell Firestar," came the reply. "Is there anything you need?" Brambleclaw meowed. "Cobweb and comfrey, if possible." Leafpaw gazed at the barren landscape with little hope of finding anything that would help. Brackenfur, in the middle of the stream of cats, lifted his head. "We'll find some," he promised. He murmured to the cats around him. Mews rippled through the throng, and warriors of all Clans began to range out and search among

眼睛睁得和猫头鹰一样大。 “我们真的要爬到上面去吗？” “对。”高罂粟凄然回答。 晨花停下脚步，僵硬地抬起一只爪子，舔了舔自己的爪垫。 “你没事吧？” 叶爪问这位年长的母猫。 鲜血从晨花的爪缝间渗了出来。 叶爪望向队伍前方，松鼠爪和棘爪正并排往前走。 “松鼠爪！” 松鼠爪立刻转过了身。 “我们能停下吗？ 我得给晨花处理一下爪子。” “我去告诉火星。”对方回答道。 “你需要什么帮助吗？” 棘爪出声问道。 “如果可以的话，我需要蜘蛛网和聚合草。” 叶爪望着这片贫瘠的土地，几乎不抱能找到草药的希望。 蕨毛在猫群中间，抬起了头。 “我们会找到的。”他保证道。 他低声对身旁的猫吩咐了几句。 应答声在猫群里传开，各个族群的武士都散开，开始在

the rocks. Leafpaw examined Morningflower's paw. "You've kept it clean," she mewed. "But if you go on softening it with your tongue, it'll never toughen." Barkface pushed his way forward to join them. "What's wrong?" "It's just raw from walking," Morningflower muttered. "Will this do?" Russetfur came over and spat a mouthful of leaves onto the ground. Leafpaw sniffed them cautiously. They didn't smell like anything she was used to. She lapped up a leaf, letting its flavor seep into her tongue before she dared bite it. The taste was bitter, but it had an astringent flavor that reminded her of marigold. "It might do." She glanced at Barkface. "Should we try it?" Barkface sniffed a leaf. "It looks a little like something we used on the moors." "You may as well try," Morningflower offered. "If it works, you can use it on others. I'll let you know soon enough if it hurts too much." Leafpaw chewed the leaf and washed its green

岩石间 叶爪检查了晨花的爪子。 “你把伤口清理得很干净。”她轻声说。 “可你要是一直用舌头舔湿它，伤口永远没办法长好。” 巴克脸挤到前面，来到她们身边。 “出什么事了？” “就是走路磨破了皮。”晨花低声说。 “这个能用吗？” 赤毛走过来，把一口叶子吐在了地上。 叶爪小心地嗅了嗅这些叶子。 它们闻起来不像她认识的任何一种草药。 她先舔了舔一片叶子，让味道在舌尖散开，才敢咬下去。 味道苦苦的，带着一丝涩味，让她想起了金盏花。 “说不定能用。” 她看向巴克脸。 “我们要试一试吗？” 巴克脸嗅了一片叶子。 “它有点像我们在荒原上用过的一种草药。” “你们不妨试试，”晨花说， “要是有用，你们就能给别的猫用， 要是太疼，我很快就会告诉你们的。” 叶爪嚼碎叶子，把绿色的

juice into Morningflower's paw. The old cat winced and Leafpaw drew back. "It's okay," Morningflower grunted. "Just a sting. Carry on." Mothwing bounded up, one forepaw swathed in sticky, white web. "Great, thanks!" Carefully, Leafpaw teased the web from her outstretched paw and wrapped as much as she could around Morningflower's swollen pad. "Let me know if it starts to throb." "I will." Morningflower pressed her paw gingerly to the ground. "Not bad," she mewed. Brambleclaw hurried back to the head of the line, and the cats set off again. Squirrelpaw walked quietly beside Leafpaw, her head down. "Is this the way you came home?" Leafpaw mewed after a while. "I... I think so," Squirrelpaw mumbled. Leafpaw glanced at her in surprise. They had come this way because Tawnypelt said it would be easier to follow the route they'd used before. She had assumed Squirrelpaw knew the way. She peered ahead to where the valley narrowed until it was little more than a cleft between the rocks.

药汁挤进晨花的伤口里。 这只老猫疼得缩了一下，叶爪赶紧往后退。 “没事，”晨花闷声说， “就是有点刺疼， 继续吧。” 蛾翅跳了过来，她的一只前爪缠着黏黏的白色蜘蛛网。 “太好了，谢谢你！” 叶爪小心地把蜘蛛网从蛾翅伸开的爪子上揭下来，尽可能多地缠在晨花肿胀的肉垫上。 “要是开始抽疼，一定要告诉我。” “我会的。” 晨花小心翼翼地把爪子踩在地上。 “还不错。”她说道。 棘爪快步走回队伍前头，猫群再次出发了。 松鼠爪安静地走在叶爪身边，头垂得低低的。 “这就是你当初回家走的路吗？” 过了一会儿，叶爪开口问道。 “我…… 我想是吧。”松鼠爪嘟囔着说。 叶爪惊讶地瞥了她一眼。 她们走这条路，是因为褐皮说走之前用过的老路会更容易。 叶爪本来以为松鼠爪认识路的。 她向前望去，山谷越来越窄，最后只剩岩石之间的一道缝隙了。

"Doesn't anything look familiar?" Squirrelpaw blinked. "It looks different coming in this direction. The Tribe led us most of the way last time." Leafpaw gulped. She wondered if they would meet any of the Tribe cats on their journey, these mud-streaked cats who worshiped strange ancestors and survived in a world of rock and ice. As the Clans trekked on, higher and higher, only Stormfur looked comfortable. He leaped from rock to rock so easily he seemed quite unlike a RiverClan cat, and even his fur blended smoothly into the bare gray world. There seemed to be no end to the climbing, neither that day nor the next. The terrain grew steeper and rockier, but still the peaks towered above them. Morningflower's paw had improved, and Leafpaw kept an eye out for more stocks of the herb she'd used to heal it. "Are you sure we're going the right way?" Sorreltail whispered. "This path is getting really narrow." She was right. The trail was leading them onto a ledge that spiraled around a dizzying

“有没有哪里看着眼熟呀？” 松鼠爪眨了眨眼睛。 “从这个方向过来，感觉完全不一样。 上次大半路程都是部落给我们领的路。” 叶爪咽了口唾沫。 她不禁好奇，这趟旅程会不会碰到部落的猫——这些沾着泥污、崇拜陌生先祖、在岩石冰原中求生的猫。 族群继续跋涉，越爬越高，只有风暴毛看起来轻松自在。 他在岩石间轻松跳跃，完全不像河族猫，连他的皮毛都和这片荒凉灰暗的环境融在了一起。 爬山似乎永无止境，第一天爬，第二天还是爬。 地势越来越陡，碎石越来越多，可山峰仍然高高耸立在他们头顶。 晨花的爪子已经好转，叶爪一路上都在留意，想多找一些当初给她治伤的草药。 “你确定我们走对路了吗？” 粟尾低声问道。 “这条路变得好窄呀。” 她说得没错。 小径把他们引上了一座岩壁平台，平台绕着令人头晕目眩的

gorge. The mountain fell away at one side of the path and rose up vertically on the other. The wind funneled through the gap like water through a ditch, tugging at Leafpaw's fur. She narrowed her eyes against the icy blast and kept her gaze fixed firmly ahead. The cats fell into single file to pick their way along the ledge. "Carry the kits!" Blackstar called down the line, and his yowl echoed eerily off the walls of the gorge. The ledge followed the curve of the mountain, sloping up toward a narrow pass between two peaks. The mountainside echoed with the rattle of stones as the edge of the path crumbled beneath the cats" paws and sent grit showering down into the shadows below. Leafpaw walked as close as she could to the rock face, her heart hammering. She could feel Sorreltail's warm breath behind her. Suddenly a wail rang out from up ahead, and a large chunk of rock clattered endlessly down into the abyss. A hole yawned in the narrow path, sending Smokepaw, a ShadowClan

峡谷。 小路一侧山体陡直下落，另一侧则是直插云霄的峭壁。 风顺着缝隙灌进来，就像水流过沟渠，扯着叶爪的皮毛。 她迎着刺骨寒风眯起眼睛，目光牢牢锁定前方。 猫们排成单列，沿着平台小心前进。 “带上幼崽！” 黑星顺着队伍喊，他的号叫在峡谷岩壁间荡起诡异的回声。 平台顺着山体的曲线延伸，向上倾斜通往两座山峰间的狭窄山口。 小路边缘在猫爪下碎裂，碎石哗啦啦滚落进下方的阴影，声响在山腰回荡。 叶爪尽量贴紧岩壁行走，心脏砰砰直跳。 她能感觉到身后粟尾温热的呼吸。 突然前方传来一声哀号，一大块岩石轰隆隆不停滚进深渊。 狭窄小路上裂开了一个大洞，影族的烟爪——