CHAPTER21
Hollyleaf blinked wearily in the mistydawn as the elders and Purdy carried Honeyfern’s body out of the camp. The sun had vanished and the sky was covered with thick gray clouds. The breeze carried a tang of rain to come. All the Clan1 stood silently watching while their Clanmate went to her burial.
When the elders had disappeared through the thorn tunnel, Brambleclaw began organizing the day’s patrols. Hollyleaf spotted2 Sorreltail padding sorrowfully toward the warriors’ den3, her head bowed and her tail trailing in the dust. She bounded after her, catching4 up to her beside the outer branches of the thornbush.
“I’m so sorry,” she meowed. “I’m really going to miss Honeyfern.”
“We’ll all miss her.” Sorreltail’s voice was choked with grief. “She was so gentle as a kit5. And so quick to learn! She knew most of the hunting moves even before she was apprenticed6.”
“She was always lots of fun to play with,” Hollyleaf told her, touching7 her nose to Sorreltail’s shoulder.
Sorreltail blinked. “She enjoyed being with you and your brothers. And she was always so worried that you wouldn’t get enough milk, because Squirrelflight couldn’t feed you.”
Hollyleaf began to bristle8 at the mention of the cat she had believed was her mother, and tried hard to make her fur lie flat again. She wouldn’t think about that betrayal when it was more important to comfort Sorreltail.
“It wasn’t Squirrelflight’s fault,” the tortoiseshell queen went on, obviously misunderstanding what was bothering Hollyleaf. “And you were well looked after. Ferncloud and Daisy fed you, and I don’t think Leafpool was ever out of the nursery, bringing them borage to make their milk come, and all the strengthening herbs she could find!”
“Leafpool did all that?” Hollyleaf asked.
“Oh, yes, she was always fussing over you! Maybe because you were her sister’s kits10, or maybe because she was with you when you first came to the hollow.”
“I didn’t know that.” Hollyleaf felt a prickling in her fur. If Leafpool was with us, she must know who our real mother is!
Sorreltail nodded, then arched her back in a long stretch. “I’m going to see if I can get some sleep,” she murmured. “Maybe Honeyfern will walk in my dreams.”
As soon as Sorreltail had disappeared into the warriors’ den, Hollyleaf looked around for the medicine cat. She had vowed11 never to ask Squirrelflight anything more about her real parents; she didn’t want to speak to the cat who had lied to her ever again. But maybe Leafpool would tell her.
She spotted Leafpool talking to Firestar near the entrance to the thorn tunnel, and padded across to them, hovering12 a couple of tail-lengths away as she waited for a chance to get the medicine cat alone.
“You’ve been keeping vigil all night,” Firestar was meowing. “You’re exhausted13. Why don’t you go out into the forest and get some air? Stretch your legs and maybe find a quiet spot to have a sleep, without any cat to interrupt you.”
“I shouldn’t leave the Clan…,” Leafpool protested.
“Jayfeather’s back from the Moonpool,” Firestar pointed14 out. “We can do without you for a little while.” He stretched forward and touched noses affectionately with Leafpool. “I could make that an order.”
Leafpool yawned. “All right, Firestar, but I’ll be back before sunhigh.”
“Take as long as you want.” Firestar dipped his head and padded away.
Hollyleaf waited until Leafpool had gone out through the thorn tunnel, then followed her into the forest. The medicine cat was out of sight, but Hollyleaf tracked her by her scent15 until she joined her at the top of a treeless rise overlooking the lake. Leafpool was sitting with her tail wrapped around her paws, gazing out across the water.
She sprang to her paws as Hollyleaf bounded up beside her. “Hollyleaf! Were you looking for me?”
“Yes, I—I wanted to ask you something.” Now that the moment had come, Hollyleaf didn’t feel so sure about what she was about to do. The answer would change her life forever. Was that what she wanted? I have to know the truth!
Leafpool’s eyes were wary16 as she mewed, “Go on, then.”
She knows we’ve found out about the lie!Hollyleaf guessed, her belly17 lurching. Squirrelflight must have told her what happened that day on the cliff
“Well?” Leafpool prompted.
Hollyleaf took a deep breath. “Tell me what you know. All of it. I have to know the truth!”
Leafpool’s amber18 eyes brimmed with sorrow. She took a pace toward Hollyleaf, sweeping19 her tail around as if to lay it on the younger cat’s shoulder, but left the gesture unfinished.
“You don’t have to worry,” Leafpool meowed. “I will never tell any cat. But please tell me why you did it.”
Hollyleaf felt as if a massive piece of fresh-kill were stuck in her throat. This wasn’t how she had intended their talk to go. “Did what?” she managed to choke out.
Leafpool let out a long sigh, closing her eyes as if she had to nerve herself for what she was about to say. Then she faced Hollyleaf again.
“Why did you kill Ashfur?”
No!Hollyleaf dug her claws hard into the ground. That wasn’t what she had asked! Leafpool couldn’t know!She opened her jaws20 to reply, but the words of denial wouldn’t come.
“I know, Hollyleaf,” Leafpool mewed gently. “When I was preparing Ashfur’s body for his vigil, I found a tuft of your fur caught in his claws. But I hid it away where no cat would find it. I think I wanted to hide it from myself.” She paused, swallowed, and repeated, “Why?”
“He had to die!” Fury made Hollyleaf hiss21 through gritted22 teeth. “You know why!”
“No, I don’t.”
Leafpool’s eyes were genuinely mystified, and Hollyleaf realized that Squirrelflight had never told her about revealing the terrible secret to Ashfur.
“He had to die because he knew!” Hollyleaf snarled23. “That night, on the cliff in the storm, Squirrelflight told him that we weren’t her kits. He was going to tell all the Clans24, at the Gathering25, and I couldn’t let him do that! They think we’re true Clan cats, forestborn like they are. I couldn’t let them find out the truth—that Firestar’s Clan was even less pure than they thought. Ashfur would have destroyed ThunderClan.”
As she spoke26, Leafpool’s eyes had grown wider with dismay. “Oh, StarClan, no!” she whispered. “This is all my fault….”
Hollyleaf’s mind was whirling. She couldn’t think beyond this moment; she only knew that the cat who held the truth in her paws was standing9 in front of her. “Squirrelflight told you about us, didn’t she? You were there when we first came to the hollow. You must know who our real mother is.”
Leafpool faced her calmly now. “Yes, I know.”
“Then you have to tell me—please!”
For several heartbeats, Leafpool didn’t reply. She stood blinking, her muscles tensed as if she were about to leap over a vast chasm27. Then she spoke.
“I am your mother, Hollyleaf. Squirrelflight was trying to protect me.”
For a moment that lasted a heartbeat or a maybe a moon, Hollyleaf stared at her. No, it can’t be!But she knew that Leafpool had spoken the truth.
Whipping around, she bounded away, her paws slipping on the dead leaves so that she slid to the bottom of the rise in a tangle28 of legs and tail. Scrambling29 to her paws, she pelted30 toward the deepest places of the forest, as far from the hollow as she could get. She didn’t know where she was going, only that she wanted to outrun the lies, and the taste of Ashfur’s blood in her mouth.
It was all for nothing! I did it to save us all, but it was no use! Everything has been ruined….
收听单词发音 |
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clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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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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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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apprenticed
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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bristle
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| v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发 | |
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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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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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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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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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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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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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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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gritted
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| v.以沙砾覆盖（某物），撒沙砾于( grit的过去式和过去分词 )；咬紧牙关 | |
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snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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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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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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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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chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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pelted
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| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
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