Squirrelpaw raced ahead of Brambleclaw andStormfur toward the ravine where the ThunderClan camp lay. The stench of Twoleg monsters hung in the air, and her heart grew as heavy as a stone when she heard a rumbling2 roar up ahead.
“They’re here already!” she whispered. There was an unfamiliar3 slash4 of brightness where a gap had appeared in the trees that bordered the ravine. Before, the forest had crowded right up to the edge of the steep slope that led down into the camp.
Squirrelpaw felt Brambleclaw’s pelt5 brush hers as he crept alongside and peered out from the trees. “Go carefully,” he murmured without looking at her.
A broad trail had been gouged6 through the forest. The ground, once hidden by ferns and smoothed by many moons’ pawsteps, was lumpy and muddy, churned up like the moorland. Their way to the ravine was blocked by monsters, roaring and growling8 as they chewed through more trees. Squirrelpaw shrank back under the bracken, flattening9 her ears.
“Midnight warned us it would be bad,” Brambleclaw reminded her. His voice was oddly calm, and Squirrelpaw pressed herself close to him, seeking comfort from the warmth of his fur. “We can’t cross here,” he went on. “It’s too dangerous. We’ll have to go around and approach the camp from the other side.”
“You lead the way,” Stormfur suggested. “You know the forest here better than I do.” He glanced at Squirrelpaw. “Are you okay?”
Squirrelpaw lifted her chin. “I’m fine. All I want to do is get back to the Clan1.”
“Come on then,” mewed Brambleclaw, and he set off at a fast trot10, away from the Twoleg devastation11.
They turned away from the monsters and sped through the trees. As she raced toward the sandy clearing where she had trained with the other apprentices12, Squirrelpaw wondered grimly how the Clan could have survived with the Twolegs and monsters so close. The sun was high in the sky, and the training hollow was crisscrossed with shafts13 of cold sunlight. She dug her paws into the soft ground and pushed on ahead of Brambleclaw and Stormfur, her chest tightening14 with fear as she tore along the trail that led to the gorse tunnel. Without hesitating, she ducked her head and raced into the thorns.
“Firestar!” she yowled as she exploded into the clearing.
It was completely empty. The whole camp was silent. No cat stirred, and the scent15 of the Clan was stale.
On trembling legs, Squirrelpaw padded to her father’s den7 underneath16 the tall gray rock where he normally stood to address the Clan. For one wild moment, she thought Firestar might still be there in spite of the danger that roared at the brink17 of the ravine. But his mossy bedding was damp and musty, unused for several days. Squirrelpaw slipped out of the cleft19 in the rock and found her way into the nursery. Kits20 and elders were always the last to leave the camp, and there was nowhere safer than in the heart of the bramble thicket21 that had protected many generations of ThunderClan cats.
There was nothing inside except the stench of a fox, almost hiding the faint scent of helpless kits and their mothers. Blind panic rose in her chest. There was a rustle22 of branches, and Brambleclaw appeared at her side.
“F-fox!” she stammered23.
“It’s okay,” Brambleclaw reassured24 her. “The scent is stale. The fox must have been trying his luck, hoping the Clan had left unguarded kits behind. There’s no sign of bl—of a fight,” he amended26 hastily.
“But where has the Clan gone?” Squirrelpaw wailed27. She knew Brambleclaw had been about to say blood. It seemed impossible that the whole Clan could have vanished without some blood being spilled. Oh, StarClan, what happened here?
Brambleclaw’s eyes glittered with fear. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But we’ll find them.”
Stormfur joined them. “Are we too late?” he whispered hoarsely28.
“We should have come home quicker,” Squirrelpaw protested.
Stormfur shook his broad gray head as he looked around the abandoned nursery. “We should never have left in the first place,” he growled29. “We should have stayed and helped our Clans30!”
“We hadto go!” Brambleclaw hissed31, unsheathing his claws and sinking them into the moss18. “It was StarClan’s will.”
“But where have our Clanmates gone?” Squirrelpaw cried. She pushed past the other cats back into the clearing. She heard them follow more slowly, Stormfur cursing under his breath as a bramble scraped against his flank.
The RiverClan warrior32 padded over to stand beside Squirrelpaw. He looked around the camp for a long moment, ignoring the scratch on his hind25 leg. “There’s no blood anywhere, no trace of a struggle,” he murmured.
Squirrelpaw followed his gaze and realized Stormfur was right. Even out here, the camp showed no signs that the Clan had been attacked. Surely that meant the Clan had been unharmed when they left? “They must have moved somewhere safer,” she meowed hopefully.
Brambleclaw nodded.
“We should keep looking for scents33,” Stormfur suggested. “They might give us a clue to where the Clan has gone.”
“I’ll check Cinderpelt’s den,” Squirrelpaw offered. She charged down the fern tunnel that led to the medicine cat’s clearing, but the hollow amid the sheltering ferns was as empty and silent as the rest of the camp.
She skirted the edge, poking34 her nose into the bracken. Cinderpelt sometimes flattened35 out small nests here for sick cats, but there were no fresh scents now. She turned away and padded toward the split rock that formed one end of the clearing. This was where Cinderpelt made her own nest and kept her supplies of herbs safe and dry.
In the shadows, the pungent36 smell of roots and herbs was as strong as ever, but there was only the faintest trace of Cinderpelt’s scent, as stale as Firestar’s had been in his den.
Disappointed, Squirrelpaw backed out of the cleft and stared desperately37 around the clearing. A sudden, terrible realization38 clutched at her belly39: Cinderpelt’s scent was faint, but her sister’s scent was even fainter. Wherever ThunderClan had gone, Leafpaw had left before them.
A screeching40 warrior’s cry sounded from above, jerking her out of her thoughts. Squirrelpaw glimpsed a flurry of dark fur; then her legs buckled41 as a cat landed heavily on her back. Fury made her hair stand on end, and her paws scrabbled as she thrashed wildly. The journey to sun-drown-place had made her strong and lean, and she heard the cat gasp42 with the effort of clinging onto her pelt. Instinctively43, Squirrelpaw rolled onto her side. She felt claws rake her flank as her assailant thudded to the ground.
Hissing44 with anger, Squirrelpaw spun45 to face her attacker, her hackles raised and her lips drawn46 back.
The other cat had scrambled47 up as well and was glaring at her with her tail fluffed up. “Trying to steal my supplies, were you?” she spat48.
“Cinderpelt!” Squirrelpaw gasped49.
The medicine cat’s eyes stretched wide with surprise. “Squirrelpaw! Y-you’ve come home!” she stammered. She rushed forward, pushing her muzzle50 along Squirrelpaw’s cheek. “Where have you been? Is Brambleclaw with you?”
“Where is everyone?” Squirrelpaw demanded, too worried about her Clanmates to answer Cinderpelt’s flurry of questions.
The sound of paws pounding along the fern tunnel interrupted her, and Brambleclaw and Stormfur burst into the clearing.
“We heard fighting,” panted Brambleclaw. He blinked in surprise as he spotted51 Cinderpelt. “Are you both okay?”
“Brambleclaw! I’m so pleased to see you!” Cinderpelt looked at Stormfur and confusion clouded her gaze for a moment. “What are you doing here?”
“He’s with us,” Brambleclaw explained shortly. “Who attacked you?” He stared around, his hackles raised. “Did you chase them off?”
“Actually, it was me,” Cinderpelt confessed. “I didn’t recognize Squirrelpaw from the top of the rock. I thought she was trying to steal my herbs. I’d come back to fetch some supplies—”
“Come back?” Brambleclaw echoed. “Where is everyone?”
“We had to leave,” Cinderpelt explained, her eyes glistening52 with distress53. “The monsters were getting nearer and nearer. Firestar ordered us to abandon the camp.”
“When?” Brambleclaw’s eyes were round with astonishment54.
“Two moonrises ago.”
“Where did you go?” demanded Squirrelpaw.
“Sunningrocks.” Cinderpelt looked distractedly around the clearing. “I only came back to get some supplies. Now that I don’t have Leafpaw to help me collect fresh herbs, I’m always running low….”
Squirrelpaw’s heart lurched. “What happened to her?”
Cinderpelt glanced at her, and the pity in her eyes made Squirrelpaw want to turn tail and flee from what she was about to hear. “The Twolegs have been setting traps for us,” she said. “Leafpaw was caught in one the day before we abandoned the camp. Sorreltail saw everything but was powerless to help.”
Squirrelpaw’s legs seemed to lose their strength altogether, and she swayed. With a sickening flash of horror, she understood all her dreams of fear and darkness and being trapped in a small space.
“Where did the Twolegs take her?” Brambleclaw’s voice sounded as if he were a long way away. Squirrelpaw shuddered55, trying to fight the shock that dragged at her body like rushing water.
“We don’t know.”
“Has Firestar sent out a search patrol?”
“He sent a rescue patrol as soon as Sorreltail returned. But the place where the Twolegs had trapped her was overrun with monsters tearing up the trees, and there was no sign of Leafpaw.” Cinderpelt stepped forward and pressed her cheek against Squirrelpaw’s. “It wasn’t safe to look for her after that,” she murmured. Squirrelpaw pulled away, but Cinderpelt stared intently into her eyes, and she felt as if the medicinecat were willing her to understand.
“Your father had to think of the whole Clan,” she meowed. “He couldn’t risk putting more cats in danger to search for Leafpaw.” She looked away, and Squirrelpaw heard bitter regret in her voice as she went on. “I wanted to go out looking myself, but I knew I’d be no use.” She glanced furiously at her hind leg, weakened by an old injury on the Thunderpath. Cinderpelt knew only too well the damage that Twoleg monsters could do to cats’ fragile bodies.
For the first time Squirrelpaw noticed how the medicine cat’s pelt seem to hang from her, showing the sharpness of bone beneath.
Brambleclaw must have noticed too. “How is the Clan managing?” he asked.
“Not well,” Cinderpelt admitted. “Larchkit died—Ferncloud couldn’t make enough milk to feed her. Prey56 has been so scarce, we’ve all gone hungry.” Grief made her voice tremble. “Dappletail’s dead too. She ate a rabbit that Twolegs had poisoned to get rid of WindClan.” A look of alarm flashed in her eyes. “You haven’t eaten any rabbits, have you?”
“We haven’t seen any rabbits,” Stormfur replied. “Not even in WindClan territory.”
Cinderpelt lashed57 her tail. “The Twolegs have ruined everything! Brightheart and Cloudtail are missing as well—we think they were captured by Twoleg traps, like Leafpaw was.”
Brambleclaw dropped his gaze to the cold, muddy ground. “I didn’t think it could be this bad!” he murmured. “Midnight warned us, but…” Squirrelpaw wished she could comfort him. But there was nothing she could do or say to make him feel better.
Cinderpelt was staring at Brambleclaw in confusion. “Midnight warned you?” she echoed. “What do you mean?”
“Midnight is a badger58,” Squirrelpaw explained. “That’s who we went to see.”
“You went to see a badger?” Cinderpelt glanced around as if she expected to see a ferocious59 black-and-white-striped face appear through the undergrowth behind them.
Squirrelpaw could understand her reaction. Badgers60 had never been trusted by cats; they were notoriously bad-tempered61, unpredictable creatures. Squirrelpaw and her traveling companions had taken a while to get over the shock when they discovered exactly who they had been sent to meet.
“At sun-drown-place,” Squirrelpaw went on.
“I don’t understand,” murmured Cinderpelt.
“StarClan sent us there,” put in Stormfur. “One cat from each Clan.”
“They told us to go to the place where the sun falls into the sea at night,” Brambleclaw added.
“StarClansent you there?” Cinderpelt gasped. “I…we thought they had deserted62 us.” She stared at Brambleclaw. “StarClan spoke63 to you?”
“In a dream,” Brambleclaw admitted quietly.
Stormfur was kneading the ground, his fur ruffled64. “Feathertail had the same dream.”
“And Crowpaw and Tawnypelt,” Squirrelpaw added.
Cinderpelt stared at the three cats, her eyes wide. “You must come and tell Firestar everything. We have heard nothing from StarClan since they sent the message about fire and tiger.”
“Fire and tiger?” Squirrelpaw echoed, mystified.
“You’ll learn about it soon enough.” Cinderpelt didn’t meet her gaze. “Come back with me now. The Clan needs to hear your story.”
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1
clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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slash
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| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
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pelt
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| v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火 | |
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gouged
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| v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出… | |
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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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growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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flattening
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| n. 修平 动词flatten的现在分词 | |
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trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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apprentices
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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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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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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kits
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| 衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件 | |
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thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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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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clans
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| 宗族( clan的名词复数 )； 氏族； 庞大的家族； 宗派 | |
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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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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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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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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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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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screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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41
buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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42
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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45
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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48
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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49
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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50
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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51
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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53
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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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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57
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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badger
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| v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠 | |
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ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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badgers
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| n.獾( badger的名词复数 )；獾皮；（大写）獾州人（美国威斯康星州人的别称）；毛鼻袋熊 | |
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bad-tempered
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| adj.脾气坏的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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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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ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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