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Installment #25 of:Sing Low: The Hangman of the WoodsBy B.C. Crow (Chapter 24Also, you may have heard this before, but remember to choose your friends carefully. They can help you, or they can destroy you.“You’re late, again.” Biahn’s gaze didn’t even leave his desk. His attention remained glued to the article he was working on, his pen changing a word here, deleting one there. His brow was slightly scrunched down, wrinkling as it neared his nose.“I’m very sorry, it’s just that—”“You may have no problem finding excuses, but excuses are like butt holes. Everyone has them and they all stink!”I’d heard that saying before, but it surprised me coming from Biahn. I thought he’d be delighted to see me. I also wondered if my own butt hole really would stink. I was pretty sure I kept it so clean that it wouldn’t. I had to shake the thought away. “But I’m only a few hours late.”“You’re a whole day plus a few hours late,” he accused.A whole day? How—then it hit me. I hadn’t even thought about it. We’d talked about meeting in three days, I knew that, but in my mind, I’d thought three days of searching. I’d spent that first night sleeping in my apartment. So really, I was a day late. Maybe I could still salvage this encounter. “I think I’ve found them.”This time Biahn did put down his pen. The hard shell of his disappointed eyes thinned quickly and I wondered where the Biahn of thirty seconds ago had just vanished to. The only explanation I could think of was that he was simply a good-natured person. Cruelness wasn’t something that came easily to him, so it must also leave him more easily than others.He laced his fingers together, then smiled. “Well, Iddo, this might be good news after all.” He reached behind him and took hold of his map. I brought mine to the table, as well. I unfolded mine as he unrolled his.The hunting party was still a good three, maybe four days from where I’d found the tracks. It looked like they’d done a fair amount of backtracking, just to be safe. Even if they did stumble near where I’d found the footprint, it would probably take them another day or two on top of that to find the hangman’s camp. I felt more optimistic about my chances of finding them first.“I’ll see what I can do to buy you a couple extra days,” Biahn said as he shook my hand. “Are you going home to your apartment tonight, or are you going back out today?”“Everything is still so fresh. If I leave now, I should be able to find those footprints again, then track them down.”“You kind of stink, you know that, right? If I were you, I’d go home for an hour or two. Get clean, pack a few new meals. Besides, what would your friends there think, if you suddenly show up smelling like three or four days of sweat?”I thought of Midnight running up to greet me, then stopping short to plug her nose. Not a bad idea. I hadn’t noticed my smell before now—or at least not much. If it was bad enough for Biahn to smell from a few feet away, I’d hate to repel what might be my best hope of winning a bride. “Thanks for the tip. I think maybe I will go home and shower first. But I’m still going out right afterward. I want to find those tracks before it gets too dark to see them.”“Good luck, Iddo. I’m sure you’ll find them soon. I’ll do what I can to stall the mob. What're you going to do once you find them?”I hadn’t thought about that. I’d been so engrossed in just locating them first, I hadn’t considered what to do once I found them. “I don’t know yet. Do you have any good ideas?”“Wish I did, son. My only idea is that you have them cross back on their retreat to a place the mob won’t think about searching again.”“Thanks, Biahn.” I got up to leave, but he stood also. A little confused, I asked, “You’re not coming with me, are you?”“Oh no. Remember, I told you that I was very busy today. You're lucky you even found me here. If I'm going to help you, I’ve got to run a few errands and get my work done before I meet up with the mob. You need me to stay behind, delay or misdirect them while you find and get your people to safety.”I looked down at his article that he’d been so absorbed in only moments ago. He followed my attention. “Oh, that. That can wait. It was just busywork till you showed up. I’ve been impatient for you to return. I knew you’d show up, but didn’t expect you to be this late. By the way, I am sorry for getting after you about that. I tend to lose patience easily.”Biahn losing patience easily? No, that didn’t feel right. But I acquiesced. If I was as busy as Biahn surely was, I’d be a little annoyed with tardiness, too.Once out of the building, I jogged back to my apartment. At least I jogged for several meters before I realized that I could walk just as fast and use half the energy. Not that I was a particularly fast walker. I was just a really slow runner.After six long days of hiking, I had no clean clothes. The last three days had plastered a thick coating of dust and pollen all over my face, and yes, I did stink. Before showering, though, I cleaned three shirts, two pairs of brown jeans and enough underwear to match. I wanted something fresh to climb into after I washed myself. In the heat of the mid afternoon sun, my clothes would dry quickly. I packed a few meals then cleaned up. By the time I put on a second hand t-shirt with the faded earthy colored jeans, they were nearly dry. They’d been sitting out in the sun for almost an hour, and were only just a little damp around the seams. I could live with that.By five o’clock I was back at the edge of the woods. With my compass in one hand, I tried to orient myself so that I could find my way back to the tracks as quickly as possible. I folded the map and stood upright. Here I go, I better not get lost. I suddenly had a feeling of grave responsibility. What would I do once I found them? How dangerous was the mob? I mostly wanted to find the hangman and his children for Midnight’s sake. But I couldn’t just take her back with me and leave the rest of them to the mercy of the mob. They would—what would they do?I turned in a slow circle, trying to imagine a group of men with torches and poles coming to torture or capture what I could only describe as my future in-laws. I sighed deeply, then started into the woods.I’d only gone a few hundred meters when I thought I heard a stick break behind me. I stopped and spun around. Nothing. Thinking about the mob must have put my senses on high alert. They weren’t behind me. I was alone. Biahn had said they wouldn’t be showing up for several more hours. I heard noises like this all the time while I was hiking. I think the added pressure of this evening was just making me paranoid. Besides, even if the mob was going to search tonight, Biahn was going to be with them. He’d keep them searching in the wrong spot for a good week while I helped the hangman escape.After a few hours, I knew I was close to where I'd discovered the footprint. Even with the help of my map and compass, I couldn't find it. I should have tied something to a tree so that I could more easily find my way back. Especially in this fading light, everything looked different. I zigzagged around until it was too dark to see.Finally I made camp. I’d been so naive to think that I could just stroll on back, find the footprint, then follow them back into Daddy Smiling’s camp. Sleep was hard to come by. I tossed and turned. I knew I was close. I also was afraid of not actually being able to find them. Then there was the mob. Every noise of the dense forest made me think that the mob was surrounding my camp. From the creaking of trees to the patterns of insect noises, I imagined the worst.I fell asleep at what I guessed was three in the morning. I awoke as the sky was shifting from black to dark blue. The sun would be up in less than an hour. I wanted to sleep longer, but decided against it. I splashed a little water onto my face, then thought of something. Looking at the canteen, I realized that there wasn’t any lake or pond around here. Daddy Smiling would need water for all his children and they had very little to pack it in.Pulling out my map, I studied it for a moment. With all my zig-zagging and no clear point of reference, I could only guess my location, but as I studied it, I noticed a faint, almost invisible crease snaking near my position. I hadn’t noticed it before. It was easy to miss, but it could be the beginning of a small stream.If that’s what it was, I definitely hadn’t crossed it yet. A stream should eventually feed into a larger creek. I traced my finger along it. Yes, several kilometers away it met with a thin blue line. Daddy Smiling had to be somewhere along this first little stream.I ate as quickly as possible before leaving. I felt so sure about this morning. I would find them at last. By noon I was kicking up damp clumps of sod. I’d found that tiny trickle of a stream. It wasn't any wider than my hand in most spots. It was good clean water, though, and I’d hiked most of it. I didn’t see a single footprint. Frustrated, I collapsed on a rock several meters from the water. I didn’t want to see or hear the trickling reminder of my morning’s failure. As I sat in silence, I suddenly picked up on the faintest of sounds. It was still far off in the distance.At first I worried that my paranoia of last night might have been justified. Maybe some of the town’s mob had followed me. As I strained to listen, I could just start to make out the words. My heart sped and I listened with excitement. “If you get there before I do / Coming for to carry me home . . .”I jumped to my feet and ran toward where I thought I heard Daddy Smiling’s voice. I paused, then listened. At first I couldn’t hear anything above the sound of my own wheezing. Then I heard it again. “The brightest day that I can say / Coming for to carry me home . . .”I sprinted for another minute or two, then paused. This time I heard nothing. Not even the birds were chirping anymore. Not a single sound except for my own wheezing lungs and the occasional groan of a tree. I pulled out my map again, trying to keep an ear tuned for any sounds. I couldn’t see anything on the map that indicated anything special about this area.I hadn’t imagined that deep melodic voice. Maybe it had bounced around, and I’d run the wrong way. I felt so close, but was terrified that I'd lose my chance. When I remembered how well Daddy Smiling knew these woods, and how much ground he seemed to always cover, my spirits sank even deeper.While I was folding my map, I dropped my compass. As I bent over to pick it up, I noticed that the dirt had been disturbed. It was a footprint of a smaller child. Quickly stowing my compass, I followed it to the next set of prints. Soon they were joined by more. By this time, I was grinning. I was finally on my way. Half an hour later, I couldn’t distinguish the tracks anymore because there were too many. They led all over the place in every direction. Daddy Smiling’s group had been here. Now, nothing. Just a lot of packed earth. My enthusiasm drained as reality sank in. I’d finally stumbled close to them, but they were on the move. It might take me days to catch up to them.I knew I was hungry, though I had little appetite for food at that moment. I wanted to find their tracks away from here. At the same time, I wanted to lie down and feel sorry for myself. I’d been so sure I would've found them by now. I decided on something in the middle. I would have lunch, then resume looking for them. I was just about to unzip my backpack when I heard a twig snap.I looked up into the branches about three trees away. Two innocent-looking eyes were staring back at me. I smiled and waved. “Hello there. I’m Iddo. What’s your name?”They continued to stare, not answering, but then I heard other branches snapping. Before long, little heads were peering down at me from every tree and up from every shrub.“Olly olly oxen free!” someone shouted, and they all came out from hiding to greet me. My head swiveled from side to side until my gaze rested on the most beautiful face ever. Midnight was shyly stepping closer through the crowd of small children. She paused about five meters from me, then we both ran to each other and embraced in a long-overdue hug. She cried and I kissed her face.We held each other for a long moment before other kids, Grub included, pulled me away and laughed as they poked my belly. In all my hiking, I’d hoped that some of my considerable weight would disappear, but it hadn’t. Right now that didn’t matter one bit. I’d found them.For the first time, I was something of a celebrity. Nobody clung tighter to me, though, than Midnight. “I’ll never let you out of my sight again,” I promised her. For ten good minutes I endured the attention from everyone. At last I asked, “Where’s Daddy Smiling? He needs to know what I know.”“Daddy Smiling looks for new home. We play hide-and-seek, yes we do. Bad men seek. We hide. Daddy Smiling keep us safe. We love Daddy Smiling, yes we do.”“I know where the bad men will be looking for you all. I can help.”“Daddy Smiling knows where bad men are, too. He follow them every night.”It hadn’t occurred to me that Daddy Smiling would be following the men. Why not? He knew these woods better than anyone. He was more prepared to help his children than I could ever be. Maybe I really did know this, deep down. Maybe in my selfishness, all I really wanted was to make sure that I didn’t lose Midnight forever.No! My intentions were good. Yes, I wanted to find Midnight, but I also wanted to help Daddy Smiling in any way I could.I’d rarely heard any words from his deformed mouth other than that repetitive song; and in truth, I knew that he suffered from some mental disability, but I hadn’t the slightest clue as to the extent of his mental ability. What was really going on in his mind? I was starting to suspect that there were depths to him that neither I, nor anyone else, would ever understand.“Is Daddy Smiling here?” I asked again. “I want to let him know that I plan to bring you back with me. Will you come back with me?”“Silly Iddo. I will come with you, yes I will. We be Mommy Midnight and Daddy Iddo forever. I love you, yes I do.”I hugged her tight again. “So where is Daddy Smiling? I want to let him know.”“You not tell him now. He just come back, now he sleep. He need sleep for finding bad men tonight.”“Okay, Midnight, I’ll wait till he wakes up.”Dinner came early. I guessed that the hangman wanted it so. That way he could leave with enough time to find the mob before they got too far into their search. As he ate, I approached him. I hadn’t expected to feel nervous, but every one of my bones felt like jelly. Fear of the hangman had nothing to do with it. Fear of asking permission for Midnight’s hand from her adopted father was the real knee-trembling experience. I tried not to stare at his head-splitting mouth as he took a bite of a large fruit that seemed dwarfed in front of his massive teeth.“D-daddy S-miling, I know you’re being chased down by some bad men.” My words came more easily as I skirted the main focus of my topic. “I know where they’ve been looking, but I guess you already know that. I wanted to see if I could help, but I don’t know if you even need my help. I guess what I really want to know is, if you’ll let me take Midnight with me. We love each other and wish to be married.”There, it was out. A little convoluted, but I’d said it. A huge but gentle hand touched my arm. I realized that my eyes were focused on the green ground cover by my feet. I quickly raised my eyes up to meet his. They were eerily gray but at the same time warm and accepting. Suddenly they took on a sharp wariness. My throat seemed to swell shut, until he diverted his eyes and slowly searched the surrounding trees.“Don’t anybody move!” came the loud order as a dozen men, each armed with machetes, encircled the camp. With them were at least three warriors. Those mercenaries still clinging to their wartime ways were always recognizable. The last place you wanted to be was on the unpaid end of their attention. In a sense they were like the journalists whose loyalties aligned perfectly with the highest bidder. Given my foreknowledge of the journalists’ attitudes, I shouldn’t have been surprised to recognize one other man.We locked gazes for a moment. “Sorry, Iddo,” Biahn said with a half-smile. “I know how much you like the hangman, but this was just too good of a story to let pass.”The feeling of betrayal is nearly impossible to describe, even if I should have known better. “You followed me?” I could hardly believe it. Anger, mixed with sadness and despair, exchanged a rapid struggle for my cognitive focus.“Why should we wear out our shoes when you were perfectly willing to do the legwork for us?”“Round them all up,” one of the men ordered. “And be careful with that beast, he looks as strong as a truck. He’s the one we’re after.”I swept my gaze around. Frightened children cowered close to one another. Midnight dug her fingers into my arm, as if anchoring herself to her only hope of safety. Five men with ropes confronted the hangman. He must've known that he was beaten. He didn’t even put up a fight. I pried Midnight off my arm and stepped between the men and the hangman.I opened my mouth to protest, until I felt one of his massive hands blanketing my right shoulder. I looked up through wetting eyes. I wanted to tell him how sorry I was. Instead there was a reassuring softness to his hideous countenance that told me all was well.As gently as he would cradle a newborn, he pulled me to the side, and stepped forward to greet his captors. Within a minute he was bound so tight that his hands took on a shade of purple. His feet were left free, but a slip knot was fastened around his neck to lead him along.“If you don’t want to be bound or beaten, grab hold of this rope and don’t let go!” shouted a man as he and another uncoiled a long manila rope. Girls with babes in arms and boys alike all joined in a line along the rope. A few stragglers were slapped with the flat end of machetes.Midnight was grabbed by a rough-shaven skinny guy who smelled strongly of wine. His hands looked like rusty vises as he dragged her over to the rope. I jump up to him and tugged at his other arm. He was surprisingly strong and swatted me to the ground. Before I could react, I was getting kicked and clubbed by two other men. “You’re no hero, boy. If you aren’t one of us, you’re one of them.”They pulled me to my feet and then the machetes started whacking me in the back and the butt. Each blow with the flat end of the blade brought a burning welt. I had no illusions as to what my back looked like. The edges of my zebra stripes were accented by bloody lines where the edge of the knives ripped into my skin. Each time one of those blades smacked flesh, my eyes lost focus in a daze of bright stars. They weren’t just beating me; they were trying to break me.Just when I thought I’d fall to the forest floor, never to rise again, I found my hand clutching the line of rope. Midnight was ten children in front of me, but I hadn’t the strength to press closer to her.Then the rope tugged. My wobbling legs followed as we were led away.Click here to read Chapter 25Copyright 2017: While I encourage you to share this link with your friends and family, please keep in mind that this is copyrighted material. Under no circumstances do you have the right to re-publish any or part of this content without specific written permission from BC Crow and Blue House Publishing.