Chapter Seven

The Island and the Armitage Initiative

Europe was burning, the roar of bombing raids rose over the cities, and the skies were covered with the fire of planes falling like shooting stars.

But the war the newspapers told of was not the only one being fought.

In the shadows, hidden behind the armies, a different kind of battle was going on.

A war of the occult.

The SS, under the banner of the Ahnenerbe Society and other German occult organizations, sought secrets buried in history: relics, strange books, forbidden rituals, the blood of beings who were not fully human.

And the Armitage Initiative, along with its allies around the world, was fighting to stop them.

And Lizbeth was now part of that fight.

The decision to stay was not impulsive. Lizbeth had not spoken those words in an outburst, nor had she let fear guide her choice. Though Lizbeth couldn't claim to be brave—far from it—everyone there was facing the same danger, and still, they were doing all they could in the midst of it.

In the days before they arrived to pick up the rescued, she had pondered the decision. She had watched, listened and understood the danger to which she might expose herself. She had spent too much time as a prisoner. She did not want to go back to being a bystander.

The conversations she caught from the soldiers and personnel had sharpened her senses, making her more aware of the situation. She couldn't quite explain it, but something deep within was pulling her toward the decision to stay. She wanted to help… in the field.

When the Armitage Initiative commanders, led by Professor Wingate Peaslee, from the Miskatonic University, and Emmeline, part of the UK Magical Society, gave her the option of leaving for, a kinda, safe haven in the UK, Lizbeth refused with a determination that surprised everyone. Shin and Mari didn't seem too happy, but they didn't say anything to her.

It was a decision she had to make and, beyond warning her, they did not want to impose a decision on her by force. She had already been held prisoner for too long without being able to say a word. Others had also joined the organization in the same way. Given the strange nature of the organization, it was not as if in the midst of war the leadership could say no to volunteers.

The leaders of the Initiative deliberated a bit and Lizbeth saw that even Shin was called to the committee. Meanwhile Mari and an efrit named Nitocris, the one she had seen turn to black smoke days before, were trying to calm her down since she was really nervous. It was not a decision they took lightly. On the one hand, she was a fey, a creature the Nazis desperately wanted, and keeping her there meant she had to work. But, on the other hand, her potential could be invaluable too.

The latter was due to the papers rescued during the operation. Mention was made that she had killed a group of sailors using only her voice. And that was one of the main reasons why she was always kept with that muzzle. They knew the feys of her kind very well, but Lizbeth seemed to have something that made her different.

Besides, forcing her to leave, when she herself had chosen to stay, was not in keeping with the principles they were fighting for. After discussions between officers, academics and field agents, she was finally allowed to join the Initiative under strict conditions. First, she would have conditioning and second, she would help out at the base.

Lizbeth wanted to do more, but that would not be possible without training. She would not be on the front line with the others until her training was complete and she would be closely monitored. In the meantime she would help out at the base, like those who were stationary. Small tasks, until she recovered enough strength and became familiar with the world.

Shin did not intervene. Not because he agreed, but because he understood that it was no longer his decision. He had seen the look in Lizbeth's eyes that night, that intensity that had not been there when he found her in the lab.

She was no longer the same fragile, silent creature who barely dared to speak. She had a purpose now, and though Lizbeth almost sensed that a part of Shin wished to protect her from the dangers to come, he also knew that to impose a decision on her would be to deny her the freedom she was so painstakingly regaining.

Thus began her life at the base.

In the first few days she familiarized herself with the place.

And, in the process, she discovered how she had been rescued. The secret facility from which she had been rescued was in the Hasbruch Forest.

The whole operation had been under the command of Captain Fischer, of German origin, but who had deserted a year ago because of his Jewish wife.

Shin, Mari, and a mixed team of twenty feys and humans, under the command of Captain Fischer, were the ones who had stormed the base, after they received the information from intelligence. Spies were investigating several weapons manufacturing facilities in Lower Saxony.

It made sense, Lizbeth supposed, considering that she had arrived by submarine. That submarine must have reached the North Sea and she had been transported to that base between Bremen and Oldenburg.

She had not been the only one, another mermaid had been captured on the Isle of Skye and taken to another base, but she had already been rescued several months earlier, by another Initiative team that was elsewhere.

Lizbeth's big question was: where was she now? At no time, since her arrival, had it been revealed where they were. Once she was allowed to stay, that became clear, but the answer could only surprise her.

She was in a place that the academics called evanescent island. Specifically the name of the island was Runen, so called because of the ruins with runes that were in several parts.

A mythical island in Dutch and German legends.

In ancient times it had had some connection to trade between the Frisians and Vikings from the north. But the theme of runes and other strange symbols spoke of links with mythological beings. Possibly feys that inhabited the island in the past, before it began to disappear in the legends, when the Second St. Marcellus Flood happened. In 1362, the storm swept away many coasts and islands of the North Sea, among which the village of Runholt disappeared under the waters.

The island Runen had begun to disappear from medieval records in the 15th and 16th century to the realm of sailors legends, who used to see a ghost island on certain misty days. But the island had been rediscovered by an expedition at the end of the First World War by British and Dutch soldiers.

During the twenties the first expeditions had been made, two of which ended in tragedy when the expeditions disappeared. In the third one they managed to reach and find what the academics called the anchor of the island. A system for the island to become stable, although only those who knew the right parameters to reach the island could get there.

Thanks to this it had been possible to construct buildings for study, although, by 1928, there was hardly any academic interest. It was not until 1934 that it began to be studied as a strategic location for the occult world, in case of a future conflict. Given the qualities of the place, it was not possible to send troops that could endanger the secret, but it was a good place to study enemy activities.

In 1936 an agreement was finally made between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to establish the base permanently.

It was Shin who gave Lizbeth the first tour of the island.

They both got into a jeep and he took her on a ride around the area. It was about twelve square kilometers and surrounded by dense forests for the most part. Pine, spruce, fir, deciduous, willow, with dense patches of moss covering the ground in certain parts and growing on rocks with ancient runic markings. There were scattered more ruins in the north and among the woods there were often small moss-covered altars. It had small hills and a few springs that were used to draw water. The climate was generally wet and cold and rather misty most of the time with only a few hours of sunshine.

The main base was almost in the center and was larger than Lizbeth imagined. In total there were about a hundred people on the island. There should be about two hundred in total, counting those who were constantly going out on missions. The area that Lizbeth had been in the first few days was the one that was used as a makeshift medical wing, which was attached to the barracks and training areas. In that area was also the command facilities for the entire mission, but underground.

There was a whole network of tunnels connecting various parts of the island. The academic research area was also nearby and was always one of the busiest, along with the communications area. There was also a large airfield nearby and two small harbors on the east and west side for seaplanes and some boats equipped with weapons in case of emergencies. There were several guard posts and dogs guarding the coast.

So, how I got here?

Lizbeth found out a little later exactly how she had arrived on the island. It was thanks to one of the planes at the airfield. The mission to rescue her and the others had been undertaken in small groups using infiltration to steal vehicles until they got close to the site. Then, they had taken advantage of the enemy vehicles to load with the rescued, the loot of documentation and set a westward course.

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The plane in which they had escaped was the same one in which they had arrived.

An experimental prototype aircraft with a camouflage system designed by the Maskelyne team in the UK, using new technology and... a bit of illusionism. The prototype aircraft was based on another one that was on its way to production called the Handley Page Halifax. Specifically the prototype had been codenamed the Cricklewood Halifax M.21, and had become one of the main transport vehicles. The Armitage Initiative had wizards in its ranks but, in the case of weapons and vehicles, they had also become the secret test teams for the SOE departments, "The Baker Street Irregulars", to test prototypes for the war.

Lizbeth regretted falling asleep after her rescue. Knowing she had been flying in one of those planes must have been a unique experience. She hoped to have the opportunity in the future.

She also became familiar with the vehicles. In her memories she always remembered horse-drawn carriages, some airships, but those vehicles worked differently. It was quite an experience, although the first few times she ended up a little dizzy from the smell of fuel in the hangars. In particular, she fell in love with the motorcycles, which some of the guards used for patrolling around the island.

At first it took her a while to get familiar with the information but, as the weeks went by, she got the hang of it. And she had finally regained enough strength to be physically active. That must have been because she was a fey. It would have taken a normal human a little longer to recover from malnutrition. Her regeneration and metabolism had saved her.

Her training began in the third week.

She started to learn quickly. What took others more time, she assimilated in months. Partly because Shin and the others trained her relentlessly. But mostly because she didn't want to be left behind. She didn't want to be a hindrance and quickly discovered that she really wanted to help.

The Armitage Initiative was not a conventional army. They mixed soldiers with academics, agents with researchers, forming a group where strength and knowledge were equal weapons. Lizbeth was trained in hand-to-hand combat and the use of firearms. Her first shot with a pistol almost set her back, but by the second day she was adjusting her grip and by the fourth day she was hitting her target with unnerving accuracy.

Her ability to adapt did not go unnoticed. What took others weeks to master, she learned in days. Many were certain that she had used weapons before. Not only firearms, her ability to throw a knife earned her a few shocked looks, Emmeline included that she would henceforth take over her training as well. Emmeline's smile told Lizbeth that she was in trouble.

What surprised her instructors most was her agility. Despite the months of captivity and the experiments she had endured, Lizbeth moved with an almost supernatural fluidity. She was fast, silent, able to glide between obstacles with an ease that baffled even Shin. She was expected to be strong because of her nature, but no one imagined her speed and reflexes to be so advanced. The instructors began to demand more from her, to put her through tests that would bring down any new recruit, but she passed them with a silent smile and shining eyes. Shin had a fight with Emmeline, who was a Spartan when it came to training, telling her that she shouldn't demand so much, but Lizbeth would hear about that later.

However, the Initiative did not only fight with bullets and blades. The academics within the organization trained her in another kind of battle: knowledge. She learned about artifacts, ancient languages, symbols that could be signs of danger or doors to the unknown. It was not enough to fight, they had to understand what they were fighting against. She studied myths, codes encrypted in documents stolen from the Ahnenerbe, texts in languages that no longer existed on the surface of the world.

At first, the nights were long, her fingers stained with ink and her mind saturated with information.

But, over time, she began to see patterns, to connect threads that others overlooked. It wasn't just her body that had an amazing ability to adapt, her mind did too. Shin, watching from a distance, couldn't help but admit it: Lizbeth was no longer just a survivor. She was becoming something more. It was good to see her motivated, but Lizbeth couldn't shake the idea that Shin was also watching her as something much more. She wasn't sure if that would be how she felt but she hoped it was.

Hortensia and Ali, both part of the medical team, taught her some of the basics of first aid, although in that field she also demonstrated a quick knowledge. Ali and Shin especially instructed her to always avoid head injuries. The feys had a quick regeneration, but that varied and they were not immortal. When the damage was too severe death could be imminent. But there was also an extra factor that added to the damage received in the head. While accelerated regeneration could save a fey from a gunshot wound to the head, it did not mean that the memories of the damaged part would be recovered. The brain could regenerate, but memories and knowledge could be lost depending on the damaged part.

Something that did surprise her was when they examined her.

There was a detail they had avoided mentioning to her from the files they had found where she had been held. In those reports it said that upon her arrival she had had a few days where her breasts had produced milk. Lizbeth did not remember any of that. She had been blindfolded and the truth was that she had been so afraid during that time that she could not remember it. Apparently fey women could lactate before they became pregnant, because the body had to adjust to the hormonal changes well in advance of pregnancy. Oddly enough, that was also part of the reason why there were so few pregnancies among the feys.

She had been tested, but there was no evidence that she had given birth, although she was not a virgin either. That could only mean that she had been dating or with someone before she came into the world. She felt sad, because no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember any of it.

Maybe she had had a relationship with someone and had lost him, or her.

When she thought about it, her gaze always turned to Shin. Why was it that when he had rescued her, she had the feeling that she knew him? Shin didn't seem to share that, although he cared for her and the two of them had grown too close over the weeks.

While she was learning, she continued with the chores on the island, there were too many things to do. Weapons maintenance, cleaning. Stockpile inventory. The island had enough supplies to withstand more than a year's siege in case of an emergency. But ammunition always ran out quickly.

Although during the missions the members used the weapons obtained from the enemy, it was always necessary to request some shipments to the United Kingdom, as well as new weapons or spare parts for the airplanes and vehicles. Lizbeth in her case was interested in vehicles and several afternoons, after training, she used to spend time in the workshops learning about mechanics. She was quite good at it, although sometimes she would come back looking as if she had been working for days in a coal mine.

When that happened, the girls would send her to bathe without fail, because the smell of fuel permeated the entire cabin that shared the female sector where she was.

Lizbeth on several occasions took the opportunity to go swimming in the sea, which had become another of her hobbies. She loved it. She loved to swim for long periods of time under the water. She no longer felt cold at all, but on more than one occasion Mari and the others had to reprimand her to stop walking naked along the shore. On one such occasion, as a joke, Hortensia and Nitocris sent Shin to look for her. The jokes about the sight having been too much for him were heard for days.

As the months went by, she changed. She smiled more often, and almost felt as if she truly belonged in that place. The malnourished girl had given way to an athletic woman who drew the occasional glance from soldiers returning from the front. Even her hair had started to grow. Despite being in the midst of a global conflict, that place felt almost like a small paradise to her—though the sense of imminent danger never truly faded.

Life in the midst of war on that island was as boisterous as the island's capricious weather. Although it was a motley army, at times it was not as if there was a clear distinction between senior commanders and academics. This was due to the camaraderie and, in a way, to the fact that many of them had known each other for quite some time. It was not unusual to see the academics dressed neatly in the morning, and then in the afternoon to see them washing underpants with the others or peeling vegetables for dinner with the sergeants and soldiers. Everyone had to help in that place. Except for those in the mechanical area, who were avoided as much as possible to help with food, mostly because the smell of fuel would stick to anything they touched.

The rescued came and went, although sometimes there were missions that failed.

Although he always looked for a time to train with her, Shin did not spend too much time on the island. It was quite normal to see him leave by plane, or boat, and return days or sometimes weeks later. Lizbeth tried to see him when she could, although, as the months went by, she didn't see him much and, during one period, he didn't return for four months.

It was during this period of training that news came one day that the founder of the Foundation and the Initiative, Henry Armitage, a professor at Miskatonic University, had died in a fire while trying to prevent the theft of several grimoires from the forbidden section of the library.

The University's dogs had been tasked with killing the thieves.

The SS spies, and shapeshifters, who had infiltrated the student body, also killed three students. This caused great sorrow to many who had known the professor, especially Wingate Peaslee, and Shin, who had also known him during his years of study at the university.

And, in the meantime, the war did not wait for any mourning. Many more were falling on the battlefields.

The war was spreading like wildfire out of control. In the case of the United States Kingdom, rumors that it would definitely enter the war were everywhere, as was Canada. Lizbeth became quite fond of listening to the news, as she learned of the conflict that had taken place years before.

She understood why Shin had said that for him it was almost a sequel. Not many knew his history in the WWI and she didn't want to ask either. They were not pleasant memories.

So, between training, study and assignments on the island, she spent her first year and April 1940 arrived. By that time, she had participated in combat simulations, along with new arrivals who had been sent from Canada. The results were more than obvious. She was more than capable of being deployed, although only on small missions at first.

And there were still a training sessions left.

As they were about to board the plane that would take them to their night parachute jump together, Shin stopped and looked back. A gentle breeze was blowing and the sleepy sun was about to set.

Several dandelion seeds were blowing in the wind.

Lizbeth also stopped and looked at the landscape. She was about to enter danger, but at that moment, the view calmed her. And when she looked at Shin, she almost thought he was smiling for some reason, even though his muscles hadn't moved.

"What's wrong?"

Shin just adjusted his backpack on his shoulder and continued on his way. "Someone told me a long time ago that my life was like those seeds, being carried by the wind."

"Who told you that?"

"My little sister. It was a long time ago…"

As they got into the plane, Shin told her the story.

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