Rahan. Episode Sixteen. The Necklace of Claws. by Roger Lecureux. A Puke (TM) Comic.

Rahan.

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Episode Sixteen.

The Necklace of Claws.

When the battle clamor of "The one-who-walks-upright" thundered through the jungle, the beasts went to ground and even the chattering parrots fell silent.
Rahan appeared. Carried away by a Great Elk, which he rode and struck with his ivory knife.

Rahan has promised the two little men that they will eat today.
Rahan will keep his promise!

The Elk collapsed as a mortal blow was struck.
In those savage times when everything was a struggle for life.
The son of Crao triumphed once again.
Ra-ha-ha!

Page Two:

An arrow suddenly sliced into the side of the beast he was about to carve.
Usually, the men with "No-hair-on-the-chin" do not have this audacity!

Yes, do you dare to hunt in our territory!!
I am Rahan, son of Crao!
And Rahan, when he is hungry, hunts were he wants!

Rahan will never go hungry again when he reaches the Territory of Shadows!
The men came closer, their bows stretched, their flint points raised.

Rahan has always believed that "Those-who-walk-upright" should help each other!
He is ready to share the "Beast-with-frontal-horns" with his brothers!

The clan of the sources never shares with the enemy!
Squatting, Rahan hugged the Elk’s hind legs.

Page Three:

Yah!
He suddenly sat up, snatching the heavy beast from the ground.
Spinning with it!
The hard, wide antlers brutally mowed down the men.

Whose bows he broke a moment later.
Crack! Crack!
Rahan could kill the hunters from the clan of sources. He has the right!

But Rahan does not like to steal the life of "Those-who-Walk-Upright"!
Calmly the son of Crao cut a large quarter of meat.

The rest is up to you! Farewell!
The clan will take revenge!
It will kill the man "Without hair-on-the-chin"!
The thickets closed behind the son of fierce ages.

Night would fall soon, and he knew that these hunters would not track him down before daylight.
They are too afraid of darkness, as Rahan once was.

Page Four:

But Rahan is no longer afraid of the night, nor of the fire, nor of the thunder from the sky, nor of the endless rivers!
Rahan often thought of his distant childhood.

The visions of that dreadful night still haunted him.
When the blue mountain had vomited its entrails and had decimated his whole horde.

And he sometimes relived the last moments of his father, Crao the Brave.
Since you are the only clan survivor, this necklace belongs to you!
Always be worthy of what it represents Rahan.

Each of the claws that beat against his chest represented a quality of "Those-who-walk-upright", of men! There was that of "Courage".
That of "Loyalty".
That of "Goodness".

And throughout a tumultuous youth, where it had often been necessary to kill not to be killed, Rahan had kept the oath he had made to old Crao.

Page Five:

By bringing this meat back to the two hungry "Little Men" he had discovered the day before, he was still keeping this oath!

Wait, little wolves!
Rahan knows a much better way to eat meat!
When the fire sprang from the "stones-that-throw-stars".

The children froze.
Could Rahan do everything?
So did Rahan know everything?
You bring us back to our own, since you can do everything!
Hum, Rahan will try.

No, the son of Crao could not do everything.
And he was still unaware of many mysteries of this hostile and fierce world.

Perhaps, quite simply, he thought more than his fellows.
The meat would be much better if it did not touch the fire.
Like this!

Page Six:

Had not Rahan learned to "crawl on water" and build a Raft?
Had he not challenged the ocean to chase after the sun?

Had he not learned to camouflage himself like the chameleon?

To throw the boomerang? To pole vault?

Had he not discovered a curious way of catching fish? And invented the sled, and the blowpipe.

Did he not know of imitating Nature?
Throw "bridges" over the precipices to escape his enemies?

Had he not, facing the most barbarous hordes, traversed the strangest territories?

Page Seven:

And how many beasts, and monsters, had succumbed under the blows of his ivory knife!
Yes, Rahan will try to find your clan!

The sun was high the next day when he discovered a track.
Hunters have passed there!
But those of your clan or those of the clan of sources?

Ours were not that numerous Rahan!
Attention! Over there! In those bushes!

The son of Crao had already glimpsed the flint spear points.
We warned you, Rahan!
We told you that you would join the territory of shadows!

A jump backwards, legs apart.
Rahan just avoided the spear that would have ripped him open.
Follow Rahan, "Little men"!
And try to run as fast as him!

Page Eight:

A moment later the curious monkeys witnessed a dramatic manhunt.
But these quarrels between "Those-who-walk-upright" were very amusing to them!
Greek! Greek!

As spears stuck dangerously around children who could not keep up with their companion.

Who retraced his steps, and brutally uprooted a spear.
Are the hunters of the clan of the sources such cowards to attack "little men"!

That their leader, who is so proud of his chin hair, agrees to fight Rahan!!
Recognizable by his necklace of shells.

The chief retreated cautiously under the foliage, and encouraged his people.
Do not spare the enemy! Strike! Strike!

Page Nine:

Oh!
The spear was thrown with such violence that the point disappeared into the tree trunk!
Schkrack!

Rahan could have made you visit the land of shadows before him!
But he prefers to have a little fun!

The hunters came running to free their leader, who was gesticulating furiously and was nailed to the tree by his fur.
Rahan will not escape us!
The river will stop him!

Rahan and the children were already far away.
The head of sources is right!
His clan knows how to "crawl-on-water".
And we do not!

The large river shimmered in the sun.
The son of Crao dived into it.
Fear nothing! Jump! You can cling to Rahan! Fast! Jump!

Page Ten:

Overcoming their fear, the children obeyed.
A moment later they clung to Rahan.
They have arrived! They have arrived!

Usually the son of Crao "crawled" marvelously in the water.
But here, the "Little Men" hampered his movements.

A few spears broke the surface behind the fugitives, who had arrived at the middle of the river.
Plokf! Plokf! Plouch!

The hunters had thrown themselves into the water and were approaching very quickly.
These men swam with astonishing ease.

And Rahan suddenly felt fingers closing around his ankles!
He only had time to push off the "Little Men" before being dragged under the water.

Page Eleven:

The children, left to themselves, instinctively found the gestures to stay on the surface, and even to move forward!

They reached the shore.
We. We know how to "crawl on water"!
But where is Rahan? Where is Rahan!

He could see nothing of the terrible fight that was taking place at the bottom of the river.
Between the son of Crao and two men from the clan of sources.

Although very extraordinary swimmers, they failed to master their opponent.

One of them treacherously tried to strangle him.
But fortunately for Rahan, the fine vine of the necklace of claws broke.
Clak!

Page Twelve:

Three, four, five other silhouettes suddenly proliferate in this greenish world.
Rahan cannot face all these men! He must flee!

Freeing himself, Rahan returned to the surface.
Here he knew how to outrun the hunters of the clan of sources.

A moment later, in fact, he had rejoined the "Little Men".
The dense forest offered a secure refuge.

"The treacherous man" has kept Rahan's necklace.
And as usual, he will hand it over to his chief!
What must Rahan do!?

Without his necklace, the son of Crao felt Naked.
But he hesitated only for an instant.
Forward, "Little men"!
Rahan will find his necklace later!

Page Thirteen:

The sun was setting and his young companions began to show their concern.
The night will soon arrive.

When they discovered a new track.
It is here! This is where we lost the clan!

This is our Valley!
Our horde lives here!
This track was indeed the right one.
Huts appeared soon after, under the light of the setting sun.

The son of Crao had rarely known such a warm welcome as the one given to him.
We had no longer hoped to recover our little ones, Rahan!

Our hunters had taken them with them.
For an introduction to mammoth hunting.
But the charge of the herd scattered us, and the little ones got lost.

Page Fourteen:

Thank you for your aid, and for bringing them back, Rahan!
Our clan is now yours! You can stay with us!

Rahan will perhaps return to his brothers, when he has taken back his collar from the men of the sources!
We will help you! We will go with you!

And you will kill men from the sources!
And the men of the sources will want revenge!
And it will be war between your clans! Rahan does not want that!
Rahan will act alone!

For any help, the son of the fierce ages accepts only information on the situation of the village of the clan of the sources.

That is why the moon was still shining when he came in sight of it.
Wide streams shimmered in the valley.
Huts stood on a bank.

Page Fifteen:

The incessant lapping of the water on the pebbles effectively made his approach undetectable.
Rahan will have to find the hut of the chief!

He was crawling in the darkness when a familiar growl sent him to the ground.
A Gora! They have trained a Gora!

The son of Crao knew this custom from some clans.
The "Saber-toothed-Tiger" was about to roar, alerting the men of the clan!
And in spite of the line which shackled him to a rock, he could still leap!

Rahan leaps up first, trying to stifle the beast's roar.
But the ivory knife struck too late.

Hunters had heard and emerged from the huts.
They embraced their spears, and peered out into the darkness.

Page Sixteen:

Rahan threw a large pebble, then a second.
Crao sometimes used this trick, he thought to himself.

At the sound of the stones, near a distant stream, the men rushed forward.
Clak! Clak!

Encouraged by their chief, who remained in front of his hut.
Find and kill whoever dares to disturb Zaroak in his sleep!

Rahan was at present crawling towards his hut.
Zaroak leaves his men alone to face the unknown. Zaroak is a coward!

Zaroak had already fallen asleep again, his necklaces spreading around his hirsute face.
He did not hear the son of Crao.

Page Seventeen:

The ivory blade cut only one necklace: the one with long claws!
Schlok!

And when Zaroak sat up, bewildered, this blade was already resting on his throat.
Rahan has come to reclaim what is his!

Rahan could have killed you when you wanted to steal his game. He did not do it!
Rahan could have nailed you to the tree when you were hunting the "Little Men".
He did not do it!

This night Rahan could again kill you: But he will not!
He will do something else!
The cries of the disappointed hunters rose in the distance.

Rahan's fist flew to the bearded chin, sending Zaroak back to sleep.
Did you not say that men "without-chin-hair" were weak beings?

Page Eighteen:

Shortly after, the son of the fierce ages fled happily into the night.
Under the moon, each of his strides raised sparkling splashes.

And Rahan was laughing, and laughing.
While offering to the breeze mysterious things that it carried away.

Tired of their vain searches, the men returned to their huts.
The Gora is dead, Zaroak.
But we found nothing!

When their leader did not answer, they entered his hut and.
Oh!

It is "Rahan-the-cursed" who humiliated me like this!
This angry face, beardless and hairless, was it that of the fearsome Zaroak?
They had to wait for his first words to be convinced.

Page Nineteen:

This merciless tonsure was indeed the most cruel of humiliations, for this being who had nothing but contempt for men: "without-chin-hair".

Rahan was now out of danger.
And he bounded nimbly over the embankments.

Ra-ha-ha!
When he used a vine to cross a ravine, his joy was redoubled.
The fibers of the vine reminded him of the thick curls of Zaroak's beard and hair, which he had scattered in the wind.

The claws of the necklace rattle again on his chest, and the feeling of having become the "Son of Crao" again was very sweet.
How reassuring was the touch of his faithful ivory knife, whose sheath of skin beat on his hip.

Page Twenty:

Rahan has his necklace!
He has his knife!
And his brothers are waiting for him!
Rahan is Happy!

His return to the village where he had brought the "Little Men" was cheered.
Does Rahan want to eat with us?
Our children have just taught us an incredible way to make fire!

And they claim that the meat, grilled on this fire, is much better!
The two children proudly invited Rahan to approach.

This one did not blame them for possessing the “Secret-Of-Fire”.
Discoveries spread quickly, among "Those-who-walk-upright"!
And it is very good that way!

Rahan was only one member of this immense horde of men.
Men who lived in those fierce times.
That is why he took his place among this clan, modestly awaiting his share of meat.

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