Hex hung from the trees until dawn's light peeked through the mosaic of needles above him. He hadn't slept. His tear ducts had long run dry. Even the blood smeared across his stomach had begun to chip and flake.

Skel stirred first, his head wavering groggily.

Hex closed his eyes. They can't know I'd witnessed it all. That I'd done nothing.

I'll know. And that was already torture enough. Besides, if Skel finds out, he'll want to do something rash.

"Wha...? What's going on?" Skel asked, his voice strained and tired. "Hey. Hey, guys! Wake up!"

Hex pretended to rouse slowly. "Where are we?"

Dracala yawned and tried to rub her eyes, but couldn't move her wings against the ropes. She panicked for a moment, then noticed the ropes restricting her. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"I think I can get free," Hex said. He sucked in his belly and the rope around his torso fell to the ground. The binds on his appendages tugged tighter. He stretched them longer, thinning his wrists, and the ropes slid off.

He fell down and landed in the dirt beside the remnants of Rupert's axe.

"Hex..." Dracala said, seeing the shattered pieces. "Your axe..."

"I know."

He took one of the larger pieces of gnarled blade. Something reflected off it in the sunlight. Hex searched the ground. Tucked behind a few tufts of grass he found the small gem that had been embedded in the axe. He formed a small pocket in his goo and slid the gem inside. A last memento to remember Rupert and Ruben by... And home.

Hex cut Dracala and Skel free using the broken blade.

Dracala rubbed her wing and rolled her shoulder a few times. 

Thank the Creator it's not as injured as it looked.

"Who would do this to us?" Dracala asked.

"Who do you think?" Skel said. "This has Humanoid prank written all over it." He grabbed another piece of the broken blade and approached Brains, who remained motionless in his hanging prison. "Alright buddy, time to get up."

"But why? Why us?" Dracala asked.

"Because we're Monsters. What other rationale do you think they need?"

Skel had a point. While some of the Humanoids seemed nice enough, it was clear Monsters were at the bottom of the food chain up here in Humanoid Territory. Maybe even lower.

But that wasn't the true why. And these weren't just any Humanoids who'd done this to them. They were orcs. Hex had worked it out as he hung there alone for hours.

From their conversations, the one named Garo—the one who'd destroyed Rupert's axe—was royalty. And his last statement had all but confirmed Hex's suspicions. Don't ever try to pull anything on us again. These were the same orcs they'd tried to attack with the Sack of Vengeance before Professor Blackbeard stopped them. The same orcs who'd injured Calcio on their journey north.

I know exactly who they are. But if I say anything, Skel will want revenge again. And then they'll retaliate worse. A never-ending cycle. One that would likely end up with one of his friends dead if he could believe Garo's threat—which he absolutely did. He couldn't put his friends at risk.

Hex dropped the piece of Rupert's axe in his hand. And besides... It's personal now.

This is my battle.

What Hex couldn't figure out were the humans. What did they have to gain from all this? Maybe they wanted to join just to participate in the harassment for fun. After everything he'd experienced so far, that wouldn't shock him. But one of them had seemed different. Guilty, even if complicit.

The one named Rowan.

"C'mon, Brains," Skel repeated. He shook the ropes binding his friend.

"I think something's wrong with him," Dracala said.

"Cut him down. I'll catch him."

Skel handed his shard to Dracala, who flew up and cut the zombie free. He tumbled down and landed in Skel's arms.

"It's alright. I got you," he said.

"We need to take him to Ravine," Hex said.

Skel and Dracala both looked at him. "Who?"

"The one who healed your wing."

"You wanna bring him to a Humanoid?" Skel spat. "After this? It was them who did this!"

"It wasn't her. She was kind."

Skel gave Dracala a skeptical look.

"It's true," she said. "Ravine would help him. She helped me. She told us to come to her with anything."

"Fine then. Let's go."

Hex shuffled into the infirmary with Skel and Dracala jointly carrying Brains over their shoulders. A dwarf guard at the castle entrance had led them here, since they still didn't know their way around. He hadn't offered to help carry Brains—not that Skel would've let him anyway.

An elf healer in a white robe met them at the doorway. "Ravine! We've got another one."

The elderly troll shaman stepped into view from behind a curtain, beaded pink hair swinging with the quick motion. Her eyes lit up with recognition. "Dracala? And Hex, yes?"

Hex nodded.

"Can you help him?" Dracala asked.

"Bring him this way," Ravine said, leading them around the curtain.

The castle infirmary was at least ten-times the size of Ruben's tiny healing hut back home—if it still existed. Twenty beds lined either side of the room, while five Humanoid healers scurried back and forth between them.

Nearly every bed was filled.

And each bed held a zombie.

"What happened?" Hex asked.

"We're unsure," Ravine replied as she fluffed a bed setting and helped guide Brains up onto the mattress. "It seems some illness has infected zombies. The contagion is isolated to the first-year class, though."

Skel scoffed.

"What?" Ravine asked.

"There's no mysterious illness."

"Skel..." Hex whispered.

"The four of us found ourselves hanging in the forest this morning." He pointed to the residue of the bloody X on each of them. "This was intentional."

Ravine raised her eyebrows. "This time of year we are always treating both Humanoids and Monsters who are victims of pranks and—"

"Does this look like a prank to you?" Skel was almost yelling, as he pointed to his unconscious friend.

A few of the other healers glanced over at his outburst. Ravine signaled something to them, and one rushed over with several wet rags for them to clean the blood.

"No. No it does not," Ravine said. "I have not seen something on this scale before."

"Not that it matters," Skel said, wiping the X off his ribs and pelvis. "No one's gonna do anything about it anyway."

Ravine placed a hand on his clavicle, but Skel wouldn't look at her. "I will get to the bottom of this. You have my word."

Skel shrugged and turned away.

"I will take good care of your friend," Ravine said to Dracala and Hex. "We have not observed any severe damage to the zombies we've examined so far. They are perfectly healthy, but in an extended state of sleep. Almost like hibernation. And now that I know what to look for, thanks to your skeleton friend, I can narrow down possible causes and identify an antidote."

"Thank you so much," Dracala said. "Again."

"If you are feeling well enough, the best thing you can do now is get to your initiations. Go back to your dormitory. I imagine they will be heading out shortly."

Hex left the infirmary with Dracala and Skel in tow. The guard who'd brought them here had returned to his post, so they were left to find their own way back. 

Skel didn't seem to care, though. Once they were in the hallway, he stomped ahead as if he knew exactly where he was going. 

"I don't care what the troll says. This isn't over," he said.

That's exactly what I was afraid of.

<<AUTHOR'S NOTE>>

I hope Brains and the other zombies are okay!