Foogo’s Story.
The Finding of Foogo.
Zara woke to the gentle sound of the breeze rustling leaves and the song of a small bird, accompanied by the sound of running water. Foogo was already up and about, sitting on the low rail by the front of the small hut.
Zara got up from the mat at the back of the hut and walked over to Foogo.
‘This is the place you came with Dio. It’s just as he described it in the note.’
Then, as she ruffled the fur on Foogo’s head, she said:
‘You wonderful, wonderful weasel, Foogo!’
Foogo leapt off the rail and headed straight for the path up the side of the hill, and Zara followed after him as fast as she could.
Normally, she would have climbed the hill with the ease of a mountain goat, as she was a child of the mountains back on Mer. But the wounds on her thigh, abdomen and chest slowed her down, and Foogo, sensing her laboured climb, stopped often when the little brook came close to the path so she could take a rest and a drink before pressing on up the hill.
They emerged from the woods onto the meadow, which gently climbed to the rock where Foogo had parted from Dio, but even from a distance it was clear there was no one to be seen on the rock.
‘Come on, Foogo, maybe Dio is just taking shelter from the sun on the other side of the rock.’
As she said it, she couldn’t help doubting her own words. After all, she thought, Dio was noted for his adventurous spirit and irresistible curiosity.
When Foogo and Zara reached the large boulder, all their worst fears were confirmed. Dio was not dozing in the shade of the rock. As the two companions stood and surveyed the valley, the mist rising around the base of Castle Lex, they both knew where Dio was.
‘The castle looks so peaceful in the mist. It’s so hard to believe it’s as dangerous as Father says.’
Zara spoke aloud for Foogo’s benefit. She often had long talks with the weasel, and although she only ever heard his squeaks, those squeaks, over the years, became a second language to Zara.
They had been companions from birth, and when she let him go with Dio into the stairway, it had been the first time they’d been apart. Now Foogo had brought her to the very place he left Dio some hours earlier.
She looked down at Foogo, standing on his hind legs, his little head turning this way and that, scanning the valley for any sign of Dio. At that moment, she knew what it was to love someone more than life itself.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought how precious Foogo was to her, and how they’d been together all their lives. It was shortly after Zara’s birth she and Foogo became companions. It was the difficulties caused by her parents relationship that had brought them together.
(For context: Zara’s parents were prince Aram a Merian sea dweller and princess Zazuel next in line to the Amazon throne. During a conflict they were thrown together and fell in love. What follows is their story when Zara was just a baby.)
Although the incident with the kidnapping of the two young royals had at least started the Merians and Amazons talking again, relations between the two peoples were still strained. It had been agreed, for the sake of the child, Princess Zazuel and Prince Aram could stay together for the early years of the child’s life.
Aram and Zazuel were no ordinary couple. Their union was not pleasing to many on both sides of the argument. Normally such a union would bring warring parties together, but feelings still ran deep. The distrust between Amazons and Merians was still great. So, with much reluctance and resentment, the young family was allowed to remain together for the first year of Zara’s life.
As Zara’s first birthday approached, it became clear the people close to the Queen would force Aram to leave. The courtiers of the Queen had never made life easy for the young couple, and many times Aram suggested they run away together, but Zazuel would have none of it. Although she loved Aram, she was a true Amazon warrior, and her mind was set on becoming Queen one day.
In order to get away from the unpleasant atmosphere of the palace, they often climbed to the top of a small mountain behind the palace complex. Zazuel carried baby Zara in a sling, and Aram carried a pack with food and clothing. From the mountaintop, they could see the ocean in the distance, which helped Aram feel less isolated from his people. On the top of the mountain lay a huge flat stone, which Aram named the Sitting Stone. The small family spent many quiet afternoons picnicking on the Sitting Stone.
A short distance away, on the sunny south side of the mountain, a family of Earogle mountain weasels had created a burrow. The weasels provided many entertaining moments for the young family: the new baby weasels playing rough and tumble outside the burrow, while the adult weasels went about their business in the forest below.
One afternoon, as the young family relaxed on the sitting stone, watching their little furry neighbours, the sky turned dark and threatening. Great storm clouds formed out of nowhere. Thunder rolled and lightning bolts crashed into the mountain.
With no time to retreat, Aram took two leather ponchos from his backpack, and the small family made what shelter they could, squatting with their backs pressed hard against the Sitting Stone, as the rain beat down in huge drops.
From where they sat, huddled against the sitting stone, they could see the young weasels, oblivious to the sudden storm, continued their rough and tumbling. The adult weasels, returning to find the youngsters still playing outside, quickly rounded them up and hurried them into the burrow.
The rain fell even heavier, and though the burrow was close, it faded from view behind a curtain of torrential rain. A great flash and crash of thunder shook the mountain. A strong smell of burning filled the air around Aram and Zazuel. As they recovered their sight from the lightning flash, they could just make out a large dark shape a little way down the hill. As the rain eased, they saw it was a large gaping hole in the side of the mountain, where the weasels had made their home.
As quickly as they formed, the storm clouds began to break up. The sun returned to warm the mountain again, as steam rose eerily all around them. After the clap of thunder, it seemed deathly quiet.
The young couple stared at the large hole where the weasels had played only a few moments ago. Zazuel checked baby Zara. She had slept through the storm, safely tucked up in her carrying harness, held close to her mother’s breast. Slowly they emerged from their shelter and walked down to the smouldering pit. As they approached the crater, the scene before them was one of terrible carnage. The lightning bolt had scored a direct hit on the weasel burrow. The bodies of the playful creatures lay scattered, burnt and smouldering all around the crater.
Even though Amazons are ferocious warriors in battle, their love for family is strong. When Zazuel saw the little family who had been their companions on the mountaintop lying broken and still, when only moments ago, they’d brought her laughter and joy, it was too much, and she fell to her knees and wept. Aram knelt beside her to comfort her.
Aram thought he saw the mother weasel move. It drew his attention to the burned, broken body lying just below where they knelt. He must be mistaken, because a large gash in the mother weasel’s side gaped wide, her guts spilling out.
‘There is no way she could have survived a wound like that,’ thought Aram.
Then she moved again. This time Aram was watching closely. The movement was not the mother; something was below her. He reached down, lifted the broken body slightly. Amazed to find one of the young weasels trapped beneath her, he carefully lifted the mother and placed her gently on one side. Beneath her, a young unconscious weasel was barely alive, its fur badly burned. As Aram lifted it up, he realised both its front paws were gone, blown off by the force of the lightning bolt.
As Zazuel saw the state of the little weasel, she said:
‘The poor little thing. It can’t survive like that. It would be kinder to put it out of its misery while it is unconscious.’
And as she said it, she drew her dagger from her belt and gave it to Aram. He took the dagger and put it to the neck of the little weasel.
‘Yes, you are right. It will never survive alone with no paws. It’s better this way.’
He pressed the dagger harder. As he did, the weasel wriggled, and he dropped it. Aram picked it up again, and the weasel opened its eyes and let out a pained whimper. Aram gave the dagger back to Zazuel.
‘Why?’ asked Zazuel. ‘It must be in terrible pain. It would be kinder.’
‘No,’ replied Aram. ‘He’s survived this far, and I think there’s more life in him than a moment ago. He deserves a chance.’
‘But what chance will he have with no paws? He won’t survive alone.’
‘You’re right, Zazuel. He won’t survive alone. We are going to adopt him and look after him. Soon Zara will need a playmate, and she can learn to care for him.’
Even though she was sad for the others, a small glimmer of hope kindled in Zazuel as she smiled through her tears and said:
‘He needs to be kept warm if he’s going to survive the journey down the mountain. If Zara and the weasel are going to become companions, let them start now.’
She loosened the carrying harness a little, and Aram placed the weasel inside the warm cocoon with baby Zara. Before she was even one year old, Zara and Foogo began their lives together.
As they descended the mountain back to the palace, Aram had an idea.
‘I think the Merian geneticists and engineers could create new paws for our little friend. They would rise to the challenge, I’m sure they would.’
The merian surgeons and engineers soon got to work and the new paws they gave him were even better in some ways than his own. The genetic grafting meant he could use them quite normally, but the engineers’ improvements showed their military background. The claws were pure Meridium, a metal capable of grafting with flesh, harder than Titanium, and the retractable claws were sharper than diamonds.
Now Zara and Foogo Stood together on a rock, on a mountaintop, about to set out on a new adventure, it was a poignant moment and Zara crouched low and stroked Foogo’s head.
‘I love you, Foogo,’ Zara said, and Foogo squeaked his reply.
‘Dio’s down there in the castle. I just know it,’ said Zara. ‘Look at it, Foogo—it’s so beautiful. We have no choice but to follow him. Come, the sooner we find him, the sooner we can find the others and get out of here.’
Foogo leapt from the rock and headed off down the path into the valley, and Zara followed him.