Both of them glanced toward Faire Peak. There were a few climbing sites on it, but its general shape was too steep or too sheer for the winter-sports resorts that were spread across other mountains above Renaissance. Usually the mountains were 'closed' in winter when there were storms or other hazardous conditions, but it wasn't a phrase generally used in the summer, even if it suited just as well.
"We don't usually get five inches of rain in June, either," Damien said. "Like, at all, never mind in a week."
"Is that all it's been?" Briana asked with genuine dismay. "It's been raining so hard I'd have guessed we'd gotten about a foot of it."
"You gotta remember they usually measure rain in millimeters." Damien put the last of the wares into a plastic tub and sealed it. "I looked it up. Five inches of rain is like a hundred and thirty millimeters, and then the news said it's melting what was left of the snow really fast, so the runoff we're getting is way more than just the rain itself."
Briana looked up toward the peak again, nodding this time. The leading edge of the mountains had pretty well melted all the snow away in May, but deeper in the range there were still fields of it. Or there had been. She glanced toward the stream, too, overflowing as it was, and shook her head. "Yeah. That explains why the ground up there issosaturated. Hey, look, the Torbens are inviting shifters up to the tavern to talk about a game plan if there is any real flooding or anything, since we're useful to have on the ground. And you and I might be more useful than most."
"Especially you, since nobody's going to do much of a double-take if they see a mountain goat in Colorado. Snow leopards, though…"
"Mountain goats aren't actually native to Colorado," Briana said a bit prissily. "Bighorn sheep, yes, mountain goats, no. Although true mountain goats were introduced in the forties for hunting purposes."
Damien gazed at her a moment. "And how many people know that?"
She grinned. "Probably almost nobody. Snow leopards, though, have not been introduced, but if we've got to be out on the mountain in our shifter forms we have bigger problems and probably fewer witnesses to worry about."
"True," Damien said, and that was when the mountain fell on them.
Chapter 10
Laurie was just about back to the tavern when the mudslide hit.
It didn't make as much noise as he thought it should, or maybe the heavy rain muffled the initial sounds. But he was walking up one of the crossroads toward the tavern, shoulders hunched against the weather and his gaze fixed on the ground, when a dull thud made him look up.
Everything was grey and misty to begin with, visibility limited, so for a couple of seconds he didn't entirely understand that he wasn'tjustseeing rainfall. There was debris in the air, wet heavy dust, which didn't make sense, given that the rain had pinned all the dust down days ago. The ground was moving like a river had come to life on its surface, and it took another few seconds to start putting it all together.
Then it clicked, but not nearly as fast as the landslide was moving. The muck in the air had beenthrown free, that was the problem. There was so much power behind it, the mud had been atomized and flung outward from somewhere high on the peak. There was one sheer-ish rock face that had developed a waterfall, except it was a mudfall, and it was slamming into the lower ground, and?—
His bear gave an inarticulate roar inside Laurie's head, and he shifted without intending to. Bears movedfast, thirty miles an hour and more in sprints, and they could sprint a hell of a lot farther than people imagined. He rantowardthe mudslide, because both his brother and his fated mate were in that direction, but no matter how fast he was, he wasn't as fast as a landslide.
Trees went down with horrible snapping sounds, and huge rocks bounced into the air. Laurie roared again, virtually inaudible over the now-overwhelming sound of the landslide, but maybe it would warn people to run. Maybe he should be running the other direction, trying to get the non-shifters to safety, although a massive grizzly bear running toward them wasn't going to reassure true humans, and almost everybody left on site was a true human.
He cornered on one of the paths just in time to see the mudslide sweep over the smithy.
Another roar ripped from his throat and now he had to run away, because the mud and water and trees and rocks and debris were slamming toward him full force, far too fast to dodge. The swelling earth swept his feet out from under him, sending him tumbling through the muck, crashing into booths that collapsed and became part of the problem as they were dragged along. He heard a few screams through the impossible noise of the land tearing itself apart, and panic electrified him.
There was nothing to gain purchase on. Even when he crashed into walls, they broke so fast there was no hope of holding on. His bear tucked its head instinctively and rolled, keeping him as safe as he could be in the circumstances, and then abruptly the speed lessened and he was spat out of the leading edge of the landslide, dizzy, aching, afraid, confused.
His first impulse was to leap to his feet and run again, to look for Briana, to look for Jon, to look for survivors, which wouldhopefully be everyone. He tried, but his feet weren't particularly interested in responding: he staggered and collapsed, unsure whether it was pain or nausea keeping him down.
Lie still and breathe,his bear told him fiercely.Calm yourself, so we can be of help sooner.
Laurie nodded, listening to the beast, and let its huge lungs drag in deep, particle-laden breaths. He hurt everywhere, but he wasn't sure he had the nerve to shift to human quite yet. At the very least, he should know if anyone was watching, although again, abearin the midst of all the debris wasn't going to reassure any of the true humans in the area.
There was still an awful lot of noise, and a couple of times the earth surged under him again, picking him up and moving him a little ways before depositing him back on the ground. He could hear people crying, but nobody had started screaming about seeing a bear. That was something. Not much, but something. He wanted to get up and help.
After another few moments, his bear let go of the shift, and Laurie transformed back to his human shape. Most of the aches and pains faded, although he was still dizzy and not at all confident of his ability to stand. He tried, and downgraded his physical assessment:someof his aches and pains had faded. Shifting healed, but apparently shift-level-healing didn't expect to contend with 'got run over by a landslide.'
"Laurie," said a relieved voice, and with effort, he uncurled from his ball enough to see Briana standing above him, one hand extended in an offer of support.
She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Radiant, even in the mess. Confident, gentle, powerful.
Also completely clean and tidy, as if she hadn't been in the direct line of a massive landslide.
Laurie croaked, "Briana?" and struggled to take her hand. She grasped his, hauled him to his feet, and steadied him until he was looking down at her.
Helooked like he'd been hit by a landslide. There was not a crevasse in his body that was not caked with mud and filth and rocks and pain. Briana genuinely looked fresh as a daisy, although her expression was deeply and profoundly worried. "How many of me do you see?"
