The Kid Lich Book 2

The Kid Lich Book 2 11 Will P.

The Siege Pt. 1

They started getting nervous when the third military attack helicopter clearly marked United States Air Force went by overhead. Artemis, Iris, and Sobek had finished the speedboating down the Amazon River portion of their journey and were now following Khonshu's remaining on-foot instructions.

            They got to their final landmark where they were supposed to wait for Fortuna's henchman: the trees that kind of looked like goal posts. They were going to wait, but since the helicopters were going the same direction that they were, Sobek just said: "I guess just follow those?" He pointed up. "Don't see why we'd wait around here when they're clearly going where we need to go." Finished Sobek. "Makes sense to me." Said Iris, Artemis just nodded and began walking.

            At first, they were walking, then the first explosion from one of the helicopters hit and they all broke into runs. Well, Sobek and Artemis did, Iris just started blinking as far forward as she could while still staying within eyesight of the others.

            "Styx!" Swore Artemis, "That's not good; we need to move!" she said. Sobek just grunted his approval and kept running forward. After a while they came to a large clearing in the forest. There was a mountain with a roughly 35 – 40% grade incline. From eyeballing it, one could estimate an elevation of roughly 12,000 feet and change.

            On top of the mountain was what was clearly Fortuna's compound; a brutalist structure built of lots of silver steel and bulletproof glass, constructed as a series of cubes and rectangular prisms stacked across a 1300 square foot area [Thirteen for luck, I guess? I thought thirteen was bad luck... To each his own, I suppose.] and two stories tall. Wrapping completely around the base of the mountain was an enormous joint task force comprised of Brazilian police and military and American military and intelligence personnel.

            The three gods hung back a safe distance to avoid detection and discussed how to proceed. "Should we just walk up to them and say hi?" Iris asked, trying to ease the tension. It went right over Sobek's head. "What? No, Iris did Billy ever show you how to do the thing with the stuff that makes the mortals do things?" Sobek asked. "Oh, you mean manipulating the mist to make them believe or disbelieve an idea or ideas of your choice to get them to help you? Yes, I'm very good at it."

            Artemis held up her hands in a T—time out. "Wait a minute, how on earth did you know what he was talking about?" Artemis was genuinely asking. "I dunno. Intuition, I guess." Iris shrugged. Artemis just said "Sure, whatever, anyhow, sorry Sobek. Continue." She rolled her hand forward. "Okay, so, can you make all of the soldiers here, it has to be every single one, believe we're here to help them achieve their objective? And, secondarily, can you change or modify what they think their objective is?" Asked Sobek.

            "Yes and yes," Iris replied succinctly. "Okay." Said Sobek "Then for now, lets just approach, make them all believe we're with them and here to help, then find out what they're trying to do and why, and decide where to go from there." "Perfect, makes sense to me." Said Artemis. "Okay, lets go!" Said Iris

The three gods approached a lieutenant screaming "Chopper down! We need backup! We have nearly a thousand men here and its still not enough!" Artemis tapped him on the shoulder "Excuse me, sir." The lieutenant turned around fast, clearly agitated. "Huh? What do you want, Blathers? [Yes, Blathers. You never know with manipulating the Mist. You can guide it, like a river, but it was still semi-sentient and would achieve your intended result with a quirk or two here and there from time to time.] "I don't have time for you right now so make it fast!" He yelled to be heard over the cacophony of gunfire.

"Could you remind us of our objective, who or what we're looking for and why? I overslept and missed the mission briefing." Artemis feigned being bashful, to which Billy would have just said cap. But she pulled it off. "Lyda Trunofé is in there! She's number one on the International Most Wanted list!" [Anagram! Lyda Trunofé = Lady Fortune]