;
Brambleclaw scarcely slept that night, and when he did, his dreams were full of Firestar’s anger, and images of his leader driving him away from the camp. When he pushed his way out of the warriors1’ den3 the next morning, he still felt exhausted—even more so when he reflected that this was his last day in camp before his journey would begin.
A gray dawn light was filtering through the camp, and the wind was chilly4. Tasting the air, Brambleclaw thought he could make out the first scent5 of approaching leaf-fall. Change was on the way, he realized, whatever he and the other chosen cats tried to do.
Throughout the day he did not even bother trying to speak to Squirrelpaw. Though Firestar had not ordered them to stay apart, he obviously didn’t like them to be together. There was no point in deliberately6 looking for trouble. Brambleclaw caught a glimpse of the young apprentice7 leaving the camp with Dustpelt; she looked oddly subdued8, with her tail trailing against the earth and her ears flat.
“You look as if you’ve lost a rabbit and found a shrew,” a brisk voice spoke9 beside him.
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Brambleclaw looked up; it was Mousefur.
“Do you want to come hunting with me and Spiderpaw?”
the she-cat meowed.
For once Brambleclaw felt he hardly had the energy for hunting or anything else. With his journey due to start the next day, worries were crowding around him like cats at a Gathering10.
Was he really meant to lead four other cats out into the unknown, to face dangers they could not even imagine?
Mousefur was still waiting for Brambleclaw to answer. He couldn’t help wondering if her suggestion of hunting together was another of Firestar’s orders to keep him busy.
But the brown she-cat blinked at him in a friendly way, and he realized that he would be better off hunting than hanging about the camp worrying. Perhaps if he brought back plenty of prey11 he would start to regain12 Firestar’s good opinion.
But the hunt didn’t go well. Spiderpaw was too easily distracted, as playful as a kit13 on its first outing. Once, as he was creeping up on a mouse, a leaf spiraled down past his nose, and he lifted one paw to bat at it. Startled by the clumsy movement, the mouse vanished under a root.
“Honestly!” Mousefur sighed. “Do you expect the prey to come and jump into your mouth?”
“Sorry,” Spiderpaw mewed, looking abashed14.
He made more of an effort after that. When the patrol came upon a squirrel nibbling15 an acorn16 in the middle of a clearing, Spiderpaw began stalking it, moving each long black leg stealthily. He was almost ready to pounce17 when the wind changed and carried his scent to his prey. The squirrel started, W A R R I O R S : T H E N E W P R O P H E C Y : M I D N I G H T
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tail flicking19 up, and bounded toward the edge of the clearing
“Bad luck!” Brambleclaw called.
Instead of answering, Spiderpaw raced after the squirrel and disappeared into the undergrowth.
“Hey!” Mousefur shouted after him. “You’ll never catch a squirrel like that.” Spiderpaw did not reappear, and his mentor20 bared her teeth in a resigned growl21. “One day he’ll learn.”
She padded off into the undergrowth to find him.
Left to himself, Brambleclaw stood still, listening for the sound of prey. There was a faint rustling22 in the leaves under the nearest tree. A mouse appeared, scuffling after seeds.
Brambleclaw dropped into a hunting crouch23 and crept up on it, trying to make his paws float over the ground. Then he sprang, and killed his prey with one swift snap.
He scraped earth over it so that he could collect it later, half wishing that Mousefur had been there to see his success. At least she could have told Firestar that he was still hunting well for his Clan24—whatever the leader’s complaint was, it couldn’t be about that. Listening for more prey, promising25 himself one last good hunt before he left, he pricked26 up his ears instead at the sound of something bigger rustling among the bushes a little way off, in the opposite direction from where Spiderpaw and Mousefur had disappeared. Brambleclaw drew the air into his mouth, but could scent nothing except ThunderClan cats.
He began to pad forward, only to quicken his pace as the rustling grew louder and was followed by a furious yowl. He ran around the edge of a bramble thicket27 and stopped dead.
There was a gorse bush in front of him, and Squirrelpaw W A R R I O R S : T H E N E W P R O P H E C Y : M I D N I G H T
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was struggling madly among its thick, spiky28 branches. Her front paws were off the ground and her fur was tangled29 in the thorns. Brambleclaw couldn’t suppress a mrrow of laughter.
“Having fun?”
Instantly Squirrelpaw’s head whipped around and her green eyes flashed fury at him. “That’s right, have a good laugh, you stupid furball!” she snapped. “Then maybe you’ll have time to get me out of here!”
She sounded so much like the old Squirrelpaw rather than the dejected creature that had left the camp that morning that Brambleclaw felt better at once. Tail waving, he strolled toward her. “How did you manage to get so stuck?”
“I was chasing a vole.” Squirrelpaw sounded exasperated31.
“Dappletail said she fancied one, so I thought I’d better oblige, seeing that Firestar seems to want me to feed the elders, like, forever. It ran under here, and I thought there was room for me to run after it.”
“There isn’t,” Brambleclaw pointed32 out helpfully.
“I know that now, mouse-brain! Do something!”
“Keep still, then.” Approaching the bush, Brambleclaw saw where the worst tangles33 were, and began to tease out her fur, carefully using his teeth and claws. Some of the thorns pierced his nose, making his eyes water, but he kept on without complaining.
“Hang on,” Squirrelpaw muttered after a while. “I think I’m loose.”
Brambleclaw jumped out of the way as the apprentice plunged34 forward, forepaws scrabbling the earth as she dragged W A R R I O R S : T H E N E W P R O P H E C Y : M I D N I G H T
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her hindquarters clear of the branches. A moment later she was free, shaking herself irritably35 while she stared at the tufts of ginger36 fur she had left behind.
“Thanks, Brambleclaw,” she meowed.
“Are you hurt at all?” he asked. “Maybe you ought to let Cinderpelt have a look at—”
“Squirrelpaw!”
Brambleclaw froze and his heart sank. He slowly turned around to see Firestar stalking toward them.
The Clan leader had an expression like ice in his eyes as he looked from Brambleclaw to his daughter and back again. “Is this how you obey orders?” he growled37.
The unfairness of Firestar’s attitude took Brambleclaw’s breath away. For a couple of heartbeats he couldn’t find words to answer, and when he did he knew he sounded guilty.
“I’m not disobeying orders, Firestar.”
“Oh? I’m sorry.” Firestar’s voice was as dry as a sun-scorched rock. “I thought you were supposed to be on a hunting patrol, but I must have heard wrong.”
“I am on a hunting patrol,” Brambleclaw mewed desperately39.
Firestar made a great show of looking around. “I don’t see Mousefur or Spiderpaw.”
“Spiderpaw went off after a squirrel.” Brambleclaw pointed with his tail. “Mousefur went after him.”
“Why are you being so horrible?” Squirrelpaw interrupted, glaring at her father. “Brambleclaw isn’t doing anything wrong.”
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“Brambleclaw isn’t doing what he was told,” Firestar growled. “That isn’t the warrior2 code as I was taught it.”
Squirrelpaw sprang forward to stand nose-to-nose with her father and lifted her voice in a yowl of pure fury. “I was stuck in the bush! Brambleclaw helped me! It’s not his fault!”
“Be quiet,” Firestar rasped. Brambleclaw was struck by how much alike father and daughter looked: green eyes flash-ing, ginger pelts40 bristling41 angrily. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“It looks like it has,” Squirrelpaw argued. “You growl at Brambleclaw every time he so much as glances at me—”
“Silence!” Firestar hissed43.
Brambleclaw stared in alarm. Just at that moment, Graystripe thrust his way into the clearing, a vole clamped in his jaws44.
“Firestar?” he meowed, dropping his prey. “What’s going on?”
Firestar lashed30 his tail, then straightened up with an impatient shake of his head. Brambleclaw forced himself to relax the fur on his neck.
“Oh, right.” Graystripe’s amber45 eyes glowed with understanding as he looked at the other cats in the clearing, and Brambleclaw realized that whatever was making Firestar act like this, his deputy knew all about it. “Come on, Firestar,” he went on, padding up to the Clan leader and giving him a nudge. “These two aren’t doing any harm.”
“And not much good, either,” Firestar retorted. He faced the two younger cats. “My decisions, and the orders I give, are W A R R I O R S : T H E N E W P R O P H E C Y : M I D N I G H T
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for the good of the whole Clan,” he reminded them. “If you can’t understand that, then maybe you aren’t fit to be warriors.”
“What?” Squirrelpaw’s jaws opened on a howl of outrage46, but a furious hiss42 from her father silenced her.
Brambleclaw was too bewildered even to try protesting.
Something—some knowledge Firestar and Graystripe shared—had turned Firestar against him. If Squirrelpaw hadn’t told her father about the dream, then it had to be something else. But he had no idea what it could be, or what he could do about it.
“You,” Firestar went on crisply, flicking his tail at Squirrelpaw, “take that vole of Graystripe’s to the elders, and then carry on hunting for them. You”—with a flick18 at Brambleclaw—“find Mousefur and see if you can possibly bring back some fresh-kill before dark. Do it now.”
Without waiting to see if his orders were obeyed, he whipped around and stalked off through the bushes.
Graystripe paused before following him. “He’s got a lot on his mind,” he murmured apologetically. “Don’t take it too much to heart. Everything will work out okay; you’ll see.”
A yowl of “Graystripe!” came from the direction where Firestar had disappeared. Graystripe twitched47 his ears, nodded farewell to the two younger cats, and hurried after his leader.
Squirrelpaw stared after them. Now that Firestar had gone and she no longer had to go on defying him, her tail drooped48, and the gaze she turned on Brambleclaw was full of distress49.
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“I can’t do anything right,” she meowed. “You heard what he said. He thinks I’m not fit to be a warrior. He’ll never give me my warrior name.”
Brambleclaw did not know what to say. His bewilderment was melting into a slow, furious anger. He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong. Whatever was making Firestar behave like this, it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t Squirrelpaw’s, either. She could be annoying, but she was a loyal and hardworking apprentice. Any leader worth a couple of mousetails could see what a great warrior she would make.
He glared down at the ground, and when Squirrelpaw spoke his name he scarcely heard her. He felt his mind clearing, like a gray sky when the wind tore the clouds away and the sun shone through. The day before, after the confrontation50 behind the nursery, he had felt torn between the demands of the prophecy and loyalty51 to Firestar. Now he looked ahead to see day after day of struggling to please his leader with no chance of success, because he did not know why Firestar was angry with him in the first place. There was only one solution.
He must leave on the journey with only the word of StarClan to guide him, and not come back until he had discovered answers that would prove to Firestar how loyal he had been all along. Or else he would not come back at all.
“Go on,” Brambleclaw meowed roughly, nodding toward the dropped vole. “Take that back, or he’ll have another go at you.”
“What about you?” Squirrelpaw, usually so bright and confident, sounded nervous.
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“I . . .” He had been about to lie to her, and tell her that he was going to look for Mousefur. Then he realized how deeply betrayed she would feel when he didn’t come back. After all, they were in this together, at least as far as Firestar’s hostility52 was concerned. “I’m leaving,” he told her.
“Leaving?” Squirrelpaw echoed in dismay. “Leaving ThunderClan?”
“Not leaving for good,” Brambleclaw put in quickly.
“Squirrelpaw, listen. . . .”
She sat in front of him, and her wide green eyes never left his face as he told her about the second dream, of drowning in endless salty water and being swept toward the cave with teeth.
“Ravenpaw says it’s a real place,” he explained. “I think StarClan are telling me to go there, and the other cats agree.
We’re starting at sunrise tomorrow.”
The hurt in Squirrelpaw’s eyes was clear. “You told them and not me?” she wailed53. “Brambleclaw, you promised!”
“I know.” Brambleclaw felt guilt38 gnawing54 at him. “I was going to, and then all this trouble with Firestar started—
StarClan know why, and if they do, they’re telling me even less about it than they’ve told me about the prophecy.”
“And you’re really going all that way? But you don’t even know how far it is.”
“None of us do,” Brambleclaw admitted. “But Ravenpaw has spoken to cats who have seen the place, so it must be possible to get there. I’m not coming back to the camp,” he added. “I’ll spend the night somewhere in the forest, and W A R R I O R S : T H E N E W P R O P H E C Y : M I D N I G H T
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meet the others at Fourtrees in the morning. Please, Squirrelpaw, don’t give us away. Don’t tell any cat where we’ve gone.”
As he spoke, Squirrelpaw’s eyes brightened until they were gleaming with excitement. Brambleclaw knew what she was going to say a heartbeat before she said it.
“I won’t breathe a word to any cat,” she promised. “I can’t, because I’m coming with you.”
“Oh, no, you’re not!” Brambleclaw retorted. “You’re not one of the chosen cats. You’re not even a warrior yet.”
“Crowpaw isn’t a warrior,” Squirrelpaw flashed back at him. “And I’d bet a moon of dawn patrols Stormfur is coming. He’d never let Feathertail go without him. So why do I have to be left out?” She hesitated, and then added, “I didn’t tell any cat about the first dream, Brambleclaw. I never said a word. Not even to Leafpaw.”
Brambleclaw knew that was true. If Squirrelpaw had dropped even a hint, it would have been all around the camp by now.
“I didn’t promise you could come,” he reminded her. “I promised to tell you, and I’ve done that.”
“But you can’t leave me behind,” Squirrelpaw cried. “If I don’t know what happens next, my fur will fall out from wondering!”
“It’s just too dangerous, Squirrelpaw; can’t you see that?
The prophecy is a heavy enough weight for me to bear, without having to look after you as well.”
“Look after me!” Squirrelpaw’s eyes blazed indignantly. “I W A R R I O R S : T H E N E W P R O P H E C Y : M I D N I G H T
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can look after myself, thank you. I’m coming, whether you like it or not. If you won’t let me come with you, I’ll follow you. Think about what happened today. I don’t want to go back to camp and be told off for nothing, over and over again, any more than you do!”
Brambleclaw stared at her, indecisive. He did not want the responsibility of taking a young apprentice into danger . . .
but she would be in much more danger if she tried to follow him alone through unknown territory. And if she returned to the camp, once Firestar realized that Brambleclaw had gone missing, he would badger55 Squirrelpaw until she told him what she knew, and maybe even send an expedition to bring him back. For a couple of heartbeats Brambleclaw understood what it meant to be a leader, his fur weighed down with doubts and questions heavier than a whole riverful of flood-water.
He heaved a sigh that seemed to go down to the tips of his paws. “All right, Squirrelpaw,” he meowed. “You can come.”
点击
收听单词发音
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1
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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10
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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12
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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13
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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14
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
nibbling
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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acorn
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| n.橡实，橡子 | |
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pounce
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| n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意 | |
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18
flick
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| n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动 | |
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flicking
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的现在分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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mentor
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| n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导 | |
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growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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22
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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crouch
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| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
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clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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26
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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spiky
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| adj.长而尖的，大钉似的 | |
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29
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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30
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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tangles
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| （使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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35
irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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ginger
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| n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气 | |
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37
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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38
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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40
pelts
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| n. 皮毛，投掷, 疾行 vt. 剥去皮毛，（连续）投掷 vi. 猛击，大步走 | |
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41
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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42
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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43
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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44
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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45
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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46
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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47
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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48
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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50
confrontation
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| n.对抗，对峙，冲突 | |
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51
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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52
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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53
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
gnawing
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| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
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55
badger
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| v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠 | |
参考例句： |
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