Stormfur’s legs ached and the weightof his rain-sodden fur made his paws stumble painfully over the stones. He felt as if he had been fleeing through the stormy darkness for moons. The whole world seemed to have shrunk to nothing more than rock, wind, and rain.
As he scrabbled up a broken rock face he realized that the rain was easing off. Soon it was no more than a spatter driven by the wind. The sky began to clear, the moon struggling to show its light between the clouds.
Brambleclaw halted, and the rest of the cats gathered around him. They were standing1 on a wide ledge2; above them was a slope covered with scree, while below the rock fell away into darkness.
“I have no idea where we are,” Brambleclaw admitted. “I’m sorry, I meant to bring you back the same way we came with the cave-guards, but I’ve never seen this place before.”
“It’s not your fault,” Squirrelpaw meowed, with a glare at Crowpaw as if she expected the WindClan apprentice3 to say something rude. “The rain has washed all the scent4 away, and it’s too dark to see anything.”
“That’s all very well,” Tawnypelt pointed6 out, “but what are we going to do now? If we’re not careful, the Tribe cats will catch us.”
“Or Sharptooth,” Feathertail added with a shudder7.
Stormfur cleared his throat. He was feeling guilty and betrayed that he had ever thought of the Tribe cats as his friends, and he wanted to forget them and everything to do with them as soon as he possibly could. But they had taught him skills that could be useful now, and it would be mouse-brained not to use them.
“I think I can find the way,” he meowed. “I hunted with the Tribe, remember, more than the rest of you.”
“You lead, then,” Brambleclaw responded immediately. “Just get us out of these mountains.”
Stormfur warmed a little at the ThunderClan warrior9’s trust in him. He wouldn’t have been surprised if he had lost all Brambleclaw’s respect, after the way he had settled in among the Tribe cats. He knew now how much Brambleclaw’s friendship meant to him.
“It’ll take a few days to cross the mountains,” he warned the tabby warrior, remembering the day Brook10 had taken him to the top of a high peak and shown him the towering folds of rock stretching endlessly ahead. At least they would have the rising sun to guide them when daylight came. “But I think I can get you out of the Tribe’s territory.”
“The sooner the better,” muttered Crowpaw. He was standing so close to Feathertail that their fur touched. There seemed to be an unspoken connection between them, and Stormfur wondered what had happened while he’d been held prisoner in the cave.
Stormfur took the lead along the ledge and then diagonally up the scree, his paws slipping on the loose stones. Reaching the ridge11, he paused to figure out the direction from the way the moss12 grew on the rocks and the trunk of a gnarled tree. Guilt8 swept over him again as he realized how easy it seemed to use Tribe ways, as if he had allowed himself to become a Tribe cat instead of a warrior loyal to RiverClan.
“What’s the matter?” Feathertail asked quietly, coming up to him and brushing her side against his. He should have known she would be able to sense how bad he felt.
“I trusted them.” Stormfur choked over the words. “Brook and Crag and the rest. I never thought . . . And then they took me prisoner, and the rest of you risked your lives to get me out of there.”
“We couldn’t leave you.” Feathertail let out a comforting purr.
“They never told me anything about the prophecy, you know, not all the time we were hunting together. It was just as much of a shock to me when Stoneteller told us about it in the Cave of Pointed Stones.”
“Yes, we know,” his sister murmured.
“But do we have to stand here talking about it?” Crowpaw demanded disagreeably as he joined them on the ridge. “Let’s just get moving.”
“They musthave been wrong.” Stormfur ignored the WindClan apprentice, holding Feathertail’s gaze and trying to convince himself as much as her. “I can’tbe the promised cat, right? It doesn’t make sense.”
“No, of course not,” Feathertail mewed. “Don’t blame yourself, Stormfur. None of us realized what was going on. And the Tribe, they aren’t bad cats—just desperate.”
Stormfur hoped his sister couldn’t see the guilt that clawed deep inside his belly13. What if the prophecy was true, and the Tribe of Endless Hunting really had chosen him to help the Tribe cats? StarClan had chosen four cats to save the forest, but he was not one of them. He had come on the journey because he couldn’t bear to see Feathertail leave without him. Now he wondered whether somehow the Tribe of Endless Hunting had influenced his decision so that he would be in the right place to destroy Sharptooth.
But then he had turned his back on the Tribe at the time when they needed help the most. He remembered watching Sharptooth leave the cave, his fierce jaws14 gripping Star as she yowled vainly for help. What if the next cat to die was Crag? What if it was Brook? A picture came into Stormfur’s mind of the beautiful she-cat trapped in those savage15 teeth, and he desperately16 tried to push it away.
He shivered, hardly aware that the rest of his friends were waiting for him.
“Is there something wrong?” Brambleclaw asked.
Stormfur shook himself. “No,” he meowed. “It’s this way.”
On the other side of the ridge, the ground fell away into a slope broken up by shallow precipices17, low enough for a cat to leap down from one level to the next. As he crouched18 on the edge of one of these, he saw a roosting mountain bird just below him.
Squirrelpaw, at his shoulder, prodded19 him and pointed with her ears. To be on the safe side, Stormfur flicked20 his tail lightly across her jaws and signaled to the rest of the cats for silence.
“I’ll get it,” he whispered. “You stay here.”
He was appalled21 by the way his new skills seemed natural to him, as if he had known them all his life. The bird was on a narrow ledge, so he could not leap down on it without risking a bad fall. In the forest, cats wouldn’t hesitate to jump out of trees, but that was onto soft earth, not jagged stone that sliced open paws and jarred bones.
Instead he cautiously crept down a few tail-lengths farther on and worked his way stealthily back to the bird, using broken rocks for cover. When he was close enough he pounced22, pinning the bird against the rock face, where it fluttered helplessly for a few heartbeats until he took its life.
“That was great!” Squirrelpaw exclaimed, curling her tail up in admiration23. “You’re just like a real mountain cat, Stormfur.”
“I hope not,” Stormfur mewed.
All six cats gathered around to eat their share of the bird. By the time they had finished, a thin rain had begun to fall and clouds were massing once more to cover the moon.
“This is hopeless,” mewed Brambleclaw, swiping his tongue around his jaws. “I think we should shelter for the rest of the night.”
“As long as the Tribe cats don’t track us down,” Tawnypelt warned. Stormfur noticed that her shoulder wasn’t giving her trouble anymore; Stoneteller’s herbs had worked well. At least that was something they could thank the Tribe cats for.
“I think we’re far enough away by now,” he meowed. “Brambleclaw’s right. We can’t keep going in this rain. Let’s see if we can find a cave.”
He took the lead again, this time looking for somewhere that would give them shelter. He found it soon enough, a dark hole leading into the mountainside from the base of a rock, overhung by a couple of scrubby bushes.
Cautiously he approached it and sniffed24. “Stale rabbit,” he reported. “It was probably a burrow26 a long time ago.”
“Too bad,” Squirrelpaw meowed. “I could do with a rabbit.”
“Tribe cat scent, too,” Crowpaw added, coming up beside Stormfur to sniff25. “And that’s fairly fresh. I’m not going in there.”
“Stay outside and get wet, then,” Squirrelpaw retorted, stepping forward.
“Hang on.” Tawnypelt used her tail to bar Squirrelpaw’s way into the cave. “Let me check it out.”
She slipped down the hole while Squirrelpaw stared indignantly after her. For the first time that night Stormfur felt himself growing more cheerful, warmed by the ThunderClan apprentice’s courage. She still couldn’t bear to leave the dangerous tasks to full warriors27.
A moment later Tawnypelt’s voice came out of the hole, echoing as if she were speaking from a larger space below. “Come on. Everything’s fine.”
Stormfur led the way down the cramped28 passage, his fur brushing the walls on either side. The opening narrowed until he had to breathe in, afraid of getting stuck, then suddenly grew wider. Though the darkness was unbroken, the echo of his pawsteps on the floor told him that he was standing in a fairly large cavern29.
“This is great!” Squirrelpaw’s voice came from just behind him. He felt her shake the raindrops from her pelt5 as she added, “All we need now is a good pile of fresh-kill.”
Stormfur checked by scent that all six cats, even Crowpaw, had entered the cave. He was just beginning to relax when another scent washed over him and he froze with horror: It was a Tribe cat, yet somehow different from the Tribe cats he knew.
At the same moment a voice meowed from the shadows, “And who might you be?”
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1
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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2
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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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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pelt
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| v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火 | |
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6
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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7
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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8
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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10
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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11
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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12
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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13
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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14
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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15
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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16
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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17
precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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18
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
prodded
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| v.刺，戳( prod的过去式和过去分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳 | |
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20
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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21
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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22
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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23
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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24
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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25
sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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26
burrow
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| vt.挖掘(洞穴)；钻进；vi.挖洞；翻寻；n.地洞 | |
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27
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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28
cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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29
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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