Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 Squirrelpaw curled up beside Shrewpaw and tried not to think about the warm, moss-lined den where the apprentices had slept before. At least the small gully they were lying in gave some shelter from the chilly night breeze. It felt strange to be sleeping apart from Brambleclaw after their long journey together, but at least Shrewpaw seemed happy to have her back. Her paws ached with tiredness, and she closed her eyes, folding her tail over her muzzle for comfort. At first she couldn't stop thinking about the disastrous meeting at Fourtrees, but gradually dreams wove into her waking thoughts and drew her into sleep. She was alone among the trees, and she could smell prey-scent. A cold wind breathed through the forest. Squirrelpaw lifted her nose and tasted the air. A fat mouse was snuffling among the leaves. It was the plumpest piece of prey she had found since returning to the forest, and she swiped her tongue hungrily over her lips. Brambleclaw would be pleased to have a share of this fresh-kill.

第七章 松鼠爪蜷在鼩爪身边，努力不去想之前学徒们睡的、铺着苔藓的温暖巢穴。 至少他们躺着的小沟多少能挡住冷飕飕的夜风。 一起长途跋涉之后，没能和黑莓爪一起睡，感觉怪怪的，不过至少鼩爪看起来很高兴她能回来。 她的爪子累得酸痛，于是闭上眼睛，把尾巴搭在口鼻上取暖。 一开始她忍不住想着在四棵树那场糟糕透顶的会面，渐渐地困意缠上清醒的思绪，带她进入了梦乡。 她独自一人在树林里，还闻到了猎物的气味。 一阵冷风吹过森林。 松鼠爪抬起鼻子，嗅了嗅空气中的味道。 一只肥老鼠正在落叶堆里哼哧哼哧地拱动。 这可是她回到森林后找到的最肥的猎物，她饥饿地舔了舔嘴唇。 黑莓爪分到这块新鲜猎物一定会很高兴的。

Crouching, Squirrelpaw crept silently toward the unsuspecting creature. It had its head half- buried under an oak leaf and hadn't noticed her. This was going to be an easy catch. Suddenly, rapid pawsteps sounded behind her. Terrified, the mouse darted out from under the oak leaf and scuttled away beneath the roots of a tree. Squirrelpaw spun around, bristling with fury. A tortoiseshell cat with gentle amber eyes was standing behind her. "Hello, Squirrelpaw," she mewed. "I have something to show you." "You've just ruined the best catch I'm likely to get all day!" Squirrelpaw snapped back. She had never seen this cat before, though she carried the scent of ThunderClan. She stopped and put her head to one side. "Who are you, anyway?" "I'm Spottedleaf." Squirrelpaw blinked. She had heard all about the long-dead ThunderClan medicine cat. Why would Spottedleaf come to her? She stepped forward to touch the she-cat's nose in greeting, but as she went closer, the image faded. Bewildered, Squirrelpaw stared into the trees.

松鼠爪弓起身子，悄无声息地向毫无防备的老鼠爬去。 老鼠的头半埋在一片橡树叶下，根本没发现她。 这下肯定手到擒来。 突然，她身后传来急促的脚步声。 老鼠吓坏了，一下子从橡树叶下窜出来，飞快逃到了一棵树的树根底下。 松鼠爪猛地转过身，愤怒得浑身毛发都炸了起来。 一只长着温柔琥珀色眼睛的玳瑁色母猫站在她身后。 "你好呀，松鼠爪，" 她轻声说。 "我有东西要给你看。" "你刚刚把我一整天都碰不到的好猎物给吓跑了！" 松鼠爪厉声回嘴。 虽然她身上带着雷族的气味，可松鼠爪从来没见过这只猫。 她停下脚步，歪起了脑袋。 "话说你到底是谁呀？" "我是斑叶。" 松鼠爪眨了眨眼睛。 她早就听过这位去世已久的雷族巫医的故事。 斑叶为什么会来找她呢？ 她走上前去，想碰碰这只母猫的鼻子打招呼，可等她走近，身影就渐渐消失了。 松鼠爪一头雾水，呆呆地望向树林深处。

She pricked her ears, listening for movement, but heard nothing and turned to resume her hunt. The scent of prey that hung in the air was too tempting. Perhaps Spottedleaf had wanted only to greet her, nothing more. Squirrelpaw prowled deeper into the woods, following a path that led toward Snakerocks. But as she crept through the undergrowth, the forest seemed to change, and she didn't recognize the trees around her. Surely she should have reached Snakerocks by now. Had she taken the wrong path? She quickened her pace until she was racing through trees she had never seen before. A tiny voice in her mind reminded her that it was just a dream, and she wasn't really lost. She blinked, trying to wake up. But when she opened her eyes, she was still trapped in the strange woods, and her alarm grew until her heart pounded like a woodpecker's beak on bark. She ran on, hoping to find a landmark she recognized, but the forest grew darker and more silent, as if the trees themselves were watching her. There didn't seem to be anything else alive in these woods—no sound of prey, no scent of her

她竖起耳朵，听有没有动静，可什么都没听到，于是转回身准备继续打猎。 弥漫在空气中的猎物气味太诱人了。 说不定斑叶只是来跟她打个招呼，没别的事。 松鼠爪朝着树林深处走去，沿着通往蛇岩的小路前行。 可当她在灌木丛中穿行时，森林好像变了模样，她认不出周围的树了。 按说她现在早就该走到蛇岩了。 难道她走错路了吗？ 她加快脚步，最后狂奔起来，穿过许多她从未见过的树木。 她心里有个小小的声音提醒她，这只是个梦，她不是真的迷路。 她眨了眨眼睛，想要醒过来。 可睁开眼睛后，她还是困在这片陌生的树林里，她越来越害怕，心跳得像啄木鸟啄树干一样咚咚响。 她继续往前跑，希望能找到熟悉的地标，可森林变得越来越黑、越来越安静，仿佛连树木都在盯着她看。 这片树林里好像没有其他活物——听不到猎物的声响，也闻不到她

Clanmates or any other Clan. "Spottedleaf!" she called. "Help me!" There was no reply. The trees grew more thickly here, and the shadows between the trunks swallowed her until she could hardly see where she was putting her paws. "Don't be frightened." The soft voice seemed to echo from every direction at once, and Squirrelpaw spun around, trying to find where it came from. There was a faint scent of ThunderClan, and then she saw Spottedleaf's pale pelt glowing among the trees like the distant moon in a mottled sky. "I'm lost, Spottedleaf!" she called. "No, you're not," Spottedleaf reassured her gently. "Follow me." Panting with relief, Squirrelpaw wound her way through the tree trunks. As she approached, the shadows seemed to draw away and the forest grew lighter, although there wasn't any moon that she could see. "Follow me," Spottedleaf murmured. She turned and headed into the trees, running as

同族伙伴或是其他任何族群。 "斑叶！" 她大声呼喊。 "救救我！" 没有人回答。 这里的树木长得更茂密了，树干间的阴影把她吞没，她几乎看不清爪子该落在哪里。 "别害怕。" 这温柔的声音仿佛同时从四面八方传来，松鼠爪连忙转着圈找声音的来源。 空气中飘着淡淡的雷族气味，接着她看到斑叶浅淡的皮毛在树林间发光，就像阴云密布的天空中一轮遥远的明月。 "我迷路了，斑叶！" 她大声喊。 "不，你没有迷路，" 斑叶温柔地安慰她。 "跟我来。" 松鼠爪松了口气，喘着气穿过了林立的树干。 等她走近，阴影便纷纷退开，森林也变亮了，尽管她根本看不到月亮在哪里。 "跟我来，" 斑叶轻声说。 她转过身朝树林跑去，正

confidently as if she were following an invisible path. Squirrelpaw pelted after her. Spottedleaf ran like the wind, but Squirrelpaw raced over the ground until she felt as though she were swooping through the trees like a bird. Exhilaration flooded her so that she hardly noticed the forest become familiar once more. Then she recognized the Great Sycamore, reaching high into the sky. And here were the Snakerocks, a tumbled heap of round, sandy boulders where snakes basked in greenleaf, but which offered good prey in colder weather. Spottedleaf leaped up to the top of the rocks, then down the other side and on through the forest. Squirrelpaw scrambled after her quickly. On they went until Squirrelpaw detected the tang of the Thunderpath. Suddenly, without warning, Spottedleaf stopped. Squirrelpaw skidded to a halt, nearly bumping into her, and followed the medicine cat's gaze. Ahead of them, every single tree had been stripped away, and the forest floor was churned into mud right to the edge of the Thunderpath. Wooden Twoleg nests ringed the clearing, and monsters sat hunched

步伐笃定，仿佛正沿着一条看不见的小路前行。 松鼠爪在她身后狂奔追赶。 斑叶跑起来如风一般快，松鼠爪也在地面飞奔，直到她觉得自己像鸟儿一般，嗖地从林间掠过。 喜悦涌遍她全身，她几乎没注意到树林重新变得熟悉起来。 接着她认出了高耸入云的大悬铃木。 这里就是蛇岩，一堆滚圆带沙的石块歪歪堆在一起，绿叶季蛇会在此晒太阳，冷天这里能找到不少猎物。 斑叶一跃跳到岩顶，又从另一侧跳下，继续穿过树林。 松鼠爪连忙连爬带跑追了上去。 她们一路前行，直到松鼠爪闻到了雷鬼路刺鼻的气味。 突然，斑叶毫无预兆地停住了脚步。 松鼠爪猛地刹住脚，差点撞到她，接着顺着这位巫医的目光望去。 她们前方所有树木都被砍光，林地一直到雷鬼路边都被翻成了烂泥。 空地四周环绕着两脚兽的木窝，怪物们弓着身子蹲

and silent nearby. "This way," Spottedleaf mewed. She led Squirrelpaw across the slippery, rutted earth toward the nests. "It's so quiet," Squirrelpaw whispered. Oddly, she felt soothed by the eerie quiet, and she followed Spottedleaf over the open ground without fear. Spottedleaf stopped beside one of the wooden nests, and Squirrelpaw looked up at it in surprise. "What is this place?" she mewed. "Why have you brought me here?" Spottedleaf twitched her gold-and-brownstriped tail. "Look through the hole," she urged. "Look at the cages." Cages? The word sounded strange to Squirrelpaw's ears. She noticed a small gap in the wall, about a fox-length up. She stretched her forepaws up the side of the nest, her belly brushing the scratchy wood, and peered in. Rows of dens made of cold-looking shiny web were stacked along the walls. Those must be the "cages." Squirrelpaw could see a dark, soft-edged shape huddled in each cage. Cats! Her heart

在一旁，悄无声息。 “走这边。”斑叶轻声说。 她带着松鼠爪走过坑洼湿滑的泥土，朝木窝走去。 “这里好安静呀。”松鼠爪小声说。 奇怪的是，这诡异的安静反倒让她安心，她毫无惧色地跟着斑叶走过开阔地。 斑叶在一个木窝边停下，松鼠爪惊讶地抬头张望。 “这是什么地方呀？”她问道。 “你为什么带我来这里？” 斑叶甩了甩她金棕条纹的尾巴。 “往那个洞里看。”她催促道。 “看看那些笼子。” 笼子？ 这个词听在松鼠爪耳里，格外陌生。 她发现木窝墙上有个小缺口，大约有一只狐狸那么高。 她把前爪搭在窝壁往上伸，肚皮蹭过粗糙的木头，往里面张望。 墙边堆着一排排笼子，都是用亮晶晶、看着冷冰冰的网做的。 这些肯定就是“笼子”了。 松鼠爪看见每个笼子里都缩着一团软软的黑影。 是猫！ 她的心