Rahan. Episode Eighty-Two. By Roger Lecureux. The Rocks of Water. A Puke (TM) Comic.

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Rahan.

Episode Eighty-Two.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The Rocks of Water.

A morning's journey still separated Rahan from the distant shore where the great fire was burning which, since the day before, had intrigued him so much.

Rahan will soon know why "Those of the Shore" keep such a big fire!

After having oriented himself once again, he continued on his path.
All senses alert, he suddenly heard slow incantations

And he discovered men prostrate at the foot of the strangest of totems!
Continue to watch over the clan, o great Vraah!
Your son Pahouk will soon stand at your side!
Prudently, he did not show himself.

Page Two.

A moment later, these men retreated into the forest.
This rock without doubt represents a god.

The rock was almost as transparent as the spring water.
The sun pierced it with a thousand lights

The son of Crao had already seen rocks of water, but never of this size, of this volume!
How curious!

Through this translucent material the landscape appeared to him as if in mist.
Oh!
The “Two Nose” is as intrigued as Rahan!

The heavy rhinoceros emerged from the thickets and saw him.
His formidable horns at ground level, he charged.

Page Three.

Rahan knew how bad the eyesight of these monsters was.
He took refuge behind the Totem.
A nasty surprise awaits you "Two-nose"!

The pachyderm rushed straight towards the man whose vague silhouette he saw.
When he realized the obstacle.

It was too late.
Carried away by the momentum of his charge, he hit it with such violence that.
Argh!
The horns cracked.

The son of Crao recovered his spirits among the debris of the broken "totem".
Half stunned by the terrible blow, the rhinoceros had disappeared.
And.

Made way for menacing men.
Look! The fiery-haired hunter attacked Vraah!
His sacrilege deserves more than death!

Page Four.

May the desecrator suffer before joining “The Land of Shadows!”

The bamboo javelins fell from all sides, slashing wildly at Rahan's limbs, neck and back.
Stop! Stop! It was not Rahan who desecrated the god Vraah!

It was. It was a "Two-tooth" that.
Aii, Argh! Argh!
But the blows redoubled and the son of fierce ages, unable to justify himself.

Decided to flee this circle of hatred.
It was quite annoying for him.
Ra-ha-ha!

Escaping the javelins, he took refuge in the foliage with astonishing agility.
The profaner is not a hunter. He is a "four-hands"!

Page Five.

It was in fact in the manner of the “Four-hands” that Rahan continued on his path.
He was soon in sight of the shore.

Where still rose the high flames of a blaze that was relentlessly stoked by a clan of fishermen.

Why such a big fire?
For what?
Rahan wants to know!

Many men kept watch at the edge of the forest.
Rahan has only one way to approach this fire without being seen.
The "endless river"!

Going around the village, he returned underwater, towards the shore.
Large sea turtles escorted him.

Page Six.

The curiosity of these animals was such that they climbed onto the beach with him!
The "Backs-of-horn" will help Rahan!

Crawling among the turtles, he could approach the village without being seen by the fishermen.
But suddenly.

No! Stay!
The turtles turn back, abandoning him to be discovered!
Only one remained nearby.

And Rahan understood why.
This shell was empty.
Like a huge shield of scales.
Rahan will be able to see without being seen!

The men were busy around the big fire.
They were not paying attention to this turtle that was slowly moving towards them.

Page Seven.

The words of these men now reached Rahan.
This fire is a pyre.
They.
They burn the body of their leader, Pahouk!

The fisherman froze.
Stunned, he observed this turtle without head or legs which was nevertheless crawling!

Curiosity prevails over amazement.
He roughly turned the “Horn-Back.”
And.
Oh! The profaner with “Hair-of-fire!”

Ra-ha-ha!
The son of fierce ages tried in vain to resist the men who threw themselves at him.

Page Eight.

He was overpowered, and tied to strong stakes.
My people believe that you have profaned the idol of Vraah!
What demon pushed you to this sacrilege?

The leader of this clan showed more sadness than hatred.
Vraah was a good and wise leader.
But old age has devoured his body.
The custom is that we burn our dead.
For Vraah, we fed the pyre from the "Pointed Moon" to the "Round Moon."

And Vraah has returned to us in the form of a marvelous idol as clear as the “Tears of Heaven”!

Pahouk, the son of Vraah, became chief of the clan.
But Pahouk died six mornings ago, slaughtered by a "long mane"!

Page Nine.

We have delivered his body to this pyre which will burn, like that of Traah, until the round moon!
May Pahouk return to us as Traah Returned to us.
How profane you are!

It was a “Two-nose” who broke the idol!
Rahan swears! Free him!
Death! To Death!

Hostile cries arose which the chief had to calm down.
Wait! If Pahouk comes back to us, we will spare this hunter!
But if Pahouk is not reborn from the stake, it will prove that he brought evil spirits to this river!
He will be put to death.

Rahan is lost!
How could a water stone idol be born from fire!?

Two days and two nights passed.
The clan always fueled the great blaze.
Only the turtles were interested in the captive.

Page Ten.

It was with the appearance of the round moon that the activity around the pyre finally ceased.
It slowly died out.

But it was not until much later that the fishermen were able to clear the embers and scatter the ashes.
And their clamors arose!

Some rush to Rahan to cut his bonds.
Parhouk is back among us!
You are free, “Fire hair”!
But do not come back to our territory!

Over there, where, for days and nights, the great pyre had been burning, men raised a high and flat slab, transparent as water!

The enthusiastic clan soon dragged this idol into the forest.
Pahouk is back!
He was reincarnated in the “water stone”!

Page Eleven.

How could the water stone be born from flames!?
The son of Crao could not explain this mystery.

He was thinking about the intensity of the fire.
In the sand of the beach.
The duration of the blaze.
But how could the son of wild ages have imagined that these combined elements could give birth to a new material?

For the clan, it is "reincarnation", a miracle!
For Rahan, it's a mystery!
But, no importance.
This mystery saved Rahan!

The water stone was erected in the center of the clearing, not far from the broken idol of Vraah.

This was where Rahan, who was leaving this territory, saw it again for the last time.
He admired the sun which played in its transparency.

Page Twelve.

When the rhinoceros, confronted a few days earlier, appeared in front of him again!
Oh! The first failure was not enough for you "Two-Nose"!?

You should remember that Rahan can fool you!
He threw himself behind the water stone.

But as the monster charged this translucent refuge, he suddenly changed his mind.
No, The clan will not pardon Rahan for a second sacrilege!

Attack! Rahan is waiting for you!
So it was Rahan who, to prevent the "idol" from receiving a smashing blow, faced the "two-nose"!

Thus it was that the son of Crao who had just found himself, in these fierce times, faced with an inexplicable mystery.
That of this strange material that “Those-who-walk-upright”, thousands of centuries later, would call glass!