CHAPTER22
Jayfeather struggled through snow that reachedup to his belly1 fur. Frozen lumps of it stuck between his pads, making every step painful. Just ahead of him was another cat; he recognized her tabby-and-white pelt2, and wailed3 for her to come back and help him, but she never turned her head. Then the snowy ground gave way beneath his paws, and he was falling, falling….
He woke in his own nest, the bedding tossed about by his thrashing limbs. Sitting up, heart still racing4 from his dream, he heard Leafpool scrabbling about in the depths of the store. A throbbing5 tide of anguish6 came from her, so strong that for a heartbeat he thought she was shrieking7 aloud.
Jayfeather sprang to his paws and padded over to the cave entrance. A flame of desperation burned inside him, to ask the medicine cat if she really was his mother, but he couldn’t ignore such deep distress8. “Leafpool?” he meowed. “What’s the matter?”
Leafpool backed out of the store. “I…I told Hollyleaf something I shouldn’t have,” she confessed.
Jayfeather understood at once; now all the secrets were gushing9 out like water breaking through a dam. He raised his chin in a challenge. “You told her that you’re our mother, didn’t you?”
He heard Leafpool’s gasp10 of shock. “How long have you known?”
“I didn’t know, until just now. But I’ve been putting things together, and last night everything fell into place. Squirrelflight’s loyalty11 to the cat who gave birth to us. The vague memories I have of that journey through the snow. The way you behave toward the three of us. And the fact that Mousefur remembers parsley accidentally mixed with her tansy about that time. Parsley is used to stop the milk in nursing mothers. You would have needed to take it to stop your own milk.”
There was a long silence after he had finished speaking, in which Jayfeather almost thought he could hear his own heart beating.
“If you know so much,” Leafpool mewed at last, “then do you know what happens next?”
“No.” Jayfeather felt a strong sensation that there was something else Leafpool wanted to say to him, but she kept silent. He thought about entering her mind to find out what it was, but he didn’t quite dare. He didn’t like the idea of what he might discover.
“You have to help your littermates,” Leafpool told him, her voice sharp and urgent. “You mustlearn to live with this, for the sake of the Clan13.”
You’ve got no right to tell us what wemust do.But Jayfeather did not speak the thought aloud. Part of what the medicine cat said was true. Sooner or later, they all had to find a way forward.
“Please,” Leafpool mewed, and there was a note of desperation in her voice. “Find Lionblaze and Hollyleaf, before anything else happens.”
Is there anything else that could go wrong?Jayfeather wondered. But he nodded and backed out of the den12. Leafpool was scared for her kits—all three of them—just as she had always been when trouble came to the Clan.
He scanned the clearing until he located Lionblaze approaching the fresh-kill pile with a mouthful of prey14. Jayfeather bounded over to him. “Leave that and come with me,” he meowed, jerking his head. “We have to talk.”
Jayfeather could feel Lionblaze’s confusion, but his brother didn’t protest, just dropped his prey on the pile and padded beside him toward the camp entrance.
“Where’s Hollyleaf?” Jayfeather asked. The sense of approaching disaster loomed15 even closer as he realized that this new knowledge would hurt her hardest of all. The warrior16 code means so much to her!
“I’ve no idea,” Lionblaze replied. “I think she left camp, but I haven’t seen her since the end of the vigil.”
“We have to find her,” Jayfeather mewed as they emerged from the tunnel into the forest. “She…she’s found out something that could upset her.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you when we find Hollyleaf.” Jayfeather lifted his head to taste the air, searching for a trace of their sister’s scent17.
“Tell me now,” Lionblaze insisted. “Haven’t there been enough secrets? Even the three of us hardly seem to talk anymore.”
Jayfeather turned to face him. “Leafpool is our mother.”
He sensed shock like a bolt of lightning flashing through his brother. “I don’t believe it!” Lionblaze gasped18. “She’s a medicine cat. It’s impossible!”
“You’d better start believing it,” Jayfeather mewed bleakly19. “She told me so herself. And we have to decide what we’re going to do about it.”
After a long search through the forest, trying to follow confusing traces of their sister’s scent, they discovered Hollyleaf at the top of the mossy bank that sloped down toward the lake. Jayfeather sensed her tension as soon as he bounded up to her. “Hollyleaf, we need to talk,” he meowed.
“There’s nothing to discuss.” Hollyleaf’s voice was distant. Jayfeather could tell that she hadn’t turned to face him and Lionblaze. Instead she was gazing across the water as if the answers were hidden among the waves. “We have to find out who our real father is. And that will be the end of all the secrets.”
“What do you mean?” Lionblaze asked, padding up to join them. “No cat knows yet who killed Ashfur, not unless Sol confesses. That’s one secret that the Clan won’t let rest.”
“Too bad.” Hollyleaf’s voice was dismissive, though Jayfeather detected a new surge of tension within her. “There are more important secrets than that. We mustknow who our father is.”
“You’re right,” Jayfeather agreed, curiosity prickling in every hair on his pelt. “But it’s not going to be that easy figuring it out on our own. Did you ask Leafpool?”
“No, and I don’t think she would tell us if we did.”
Jayfeather realized she was right. He couldn’t imagine that Leafpool would want to tell the truth about their father now, when she had kept the secret for so many moons. Once the rest of the Clan found out what she had done—and they would find out, because Jayfeather couldn’t see how the secret could be contained any longer—her life would be ruined. She wouldn’t want that to happen to another cat as well.
“Wait a moment,” Lionblaze meowed. “Do we really want to do this?”
“What do you mean, mouse-brain?” Hollyleaf hissed21. “Are you going to live the rest of your life never knowing who fathered you?” Jayfeather heard her claws tearing at the moss20. “Because I’m not!”
“Just think about what you’re saying.” Lionblaze sat down beside Jayfeather. “We never wanted the secret to come out, and now that Ashfur’s dead it doesn’t have to. Leafpool won’t tell any cat the truth.”
“I want to know!” Hollyleaf’s tail lashed22 through the dead leaves that covered the ground.
“But why?” Lionblaze argued. “If we keep quiet, everything will go back to how it was before.”
If you believe that, you’ll believe anything,Jayfeather thought, but he said nothing.
“Haven’t you realized what this means?” Lionblaze went on, his voice growing excited. “Leafpool’s our mother, and Firestar is her father. We’re still part of the prophecy!”
收听单词发音 |
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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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pelt
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| v.投掷，剥皮，抨击，开火 | |
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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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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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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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clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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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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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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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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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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bleakly
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| 无望地，阴郁地，苍凉地 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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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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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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