Rahan. Episode Ninety-Three. By Roger Lecureux. The secret of deep waters. A Puke (TM) Comic.

Index:
https://rumble.com/v3486cm-rahan-index-of-episodes-by-roger-lecureux..html

Source of Rahan Comics:
Philippe Ropers.
https://vk.com/topic-203785966_47424128

Rahan.

Son of the Ferocious ages.
Episode Ninety-Three.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The secret of deep waters.

As the mist cleared, Crao's son discovered everything at once.
The distance was on the shore, of an unknown land and, closer to him, the strange wharf near which a corpse was floating.

An instant later.
This unfortunate man has not seen the “Season of Green Leaves” more than twenty times!
Rahan will bring him back to his people!

The clan of fishermen who welcomed him shortly afterward showed more bitterness than feeling.
Thank you for bringing us the body of Braha, unknown brother!

Page Two.

Curiously enough, the head of the clan was less than twenty years old.
His name was Aro.
So, Braha died like so many others! The deep waters will keep their secret!

They offered Rahan some fruits, and served him fresh water using a strange gourd.
What is this thing?
A pig's bladder, brother!

Rahan did not know a pig's bladder could be so useful!
He still has a lot to learn!
The body of Braha rested on a bamboo altar.

And the clan was visibly preparing for a funeral ceremony.
Poor Braha.
What a misfortune for such a young fisher to join the “Territory of Shadows”.

It is pointless to talk to me, “Hair of Fire.”
I can not hear you!
The deep waters burst my ears a long time ago!

The young chief Arao was issuing orders.
The women and children remained apart, but the men gathered around the altar in four distinct groups.
Page Three.

The adolescents faced the altar and the son of Crao, overwhelmed, noticed that one group was made up of cripples, another of blind people, the third of deaf people!

Arao paid a brief tribute to the deceased.
Those who survived yesterday and those who will perish tomorrow salute you!
You gave your life to discover the secret of the deep waters, Braha!
The clan will not forget your sacrifice!

And Braha's body was taken into the forest.
Mutilated fishers, fishers who no longer hear, others who no longer see.

What curse has befallen your clan, Arao?
It is not a curse. And do not pity my brothers, Rahan!
Everyone is proud to have, in their time, tried to fish out the “Magic Stone!”
It all started a long time ago, in the time of our fathers' fathers fathers.

At that time, legend says, there lived on a distant island a clan which held a wonderful secret.
Our elders organized an expedition to seize the stone on which it was said this secret had been engraved.

Page Four.

When they arrived on the island, the opposing clan had fled.
But the magic stone was there that they could take away.

They were bringing her back when they were caught off this shore in a terrible storm!
All perished and the stone was swallowed up before the eyes of those who were watching for the return of the elders.

A Landmark was anchored at the site of the shipwreck because our clan, hopelessly, was dreaming.
To snatch the secret from the deep waters!

As the seasons passed, more numerous than the leaves of these plants, a custom emerged.
Every time one of us reaches twenty springs. He attempts to discover the secret!

Alas! None have succeeded yet!
The “Blue skins” make the dives perilous and only a few have been able to see the stone.

The pressure is so great that many have become deaf or lost their sight!
Some were drowned, like this brave Braha you brought back!

Page Five.

The son of Crao could not silence his reprobation
This custom is stupid and cruel, Arao! See what it has done to your clan!
Only women and those who are under twenty years old are able-bodied, all the others are infirm!

We know what custom costs the clan!
But we will respect it as long as the deep waters have not revealed their secrets!
And when Aroa is twenty years old, he will not shirk his duty!
A leader who does not understand that his life and the lives of his people are better than a secret that we know nothing about.
Is not a good leader!

Rahan hoped to reason with them. His words stirred up anger. A blind man screamed.
“Fire hair” insults the memory of the ancients! He must be punished!

A hostile circle formed around him.
Rahan does not like fighting with "Those-who-walk-upright." He will never fight cripples!

You will not have to deal with cripples "Fire hair!"
Pushing aside their companions and the children, all the women rushed towards the son of Crao!

Who was knocked down, pulled on all sides, struck, scratched.
Never had Rahan withstood such an assault!
Page Six.

Enough, women! Perhaps Rahan did not want to outrage the clan.
Obeying the young leader, the women freed their beaten adversary!

Since you are disputing our customs, your place is not in this territory!
You should leave it at daybreak!

Aroa's verdict must have satisfied the clan because no one cared anymore for the son of Crao.
Our women have quick hands, do they not?

Here, clean up these wounds!
Rahan once again appreciated the usefulness of the pig's bladder.

What are your people doing, Arao?
They burn the altar where Braha received the last homage. It is still our custom.

This fire burnt through part of the night.
The son of Crao was meditating.

Arao and his people were welcoming.
Rahan should not have spoken the way he did!

Page Seven.

And bearing in mind, Rahan is right!
It is unjust to sacrifice young fishermen to a custom!
And to discover what secret? What secret?

An idea had slipped into his thoughts. It was gaining strength.
What if Rahan discovered this secret?
It would prevent the death or infirmity of many young men!

At sunrise his decision was made.
Rahan will face the “Deep Waters” this very morning!
Maybe he will have better luck than yours?
Arao had guessed that you were brave! He will accompany you!

The two men, shortly after, moored their boat at the anchor offshore.
A large solitary shark was lurking nearby.

Who dived behind the son of Crao as soon as he had plunged into the water.
The "Blue skin" will not attack if Rahan makes a lot of noise!

Rahan had faced sharks so many times that he knew their every reaction.
This one escorted him for a moment then disappeared into the darkness.
Page Eight.

This. This. It is impossible. To go lower.
The waters are too deep!
He could guess the bottom covered in algae but he no longer had enough breath to reach it.

His lungs were on fire. He could hear the rapid beating of his heart and his ears felt painful.

He had to come back up!
Remembering the experience of the pearl fishermen he had known, he did it in stages, using the lines which moored the pontoon.

A little later.
Rahan was only twenty steps above the bottom.
But he could not go any further!
He understands why all yours failed!

Arao brought him back, still suffocating, towards the shore.
We should stay less time underwater!
We should get to the bottom faster.

Rahan could dive back into the deep water! But with a rock!
This method of pearl fishermen to save time while diving came back to his memory.
Page Nine.

The same day he made a second attempt.
This time a heavy block of granite carried him to the seaweed meadow!

The "Magic Stone" was covered with moss and a crust of shells.

Which he couldn't break because, once again, his lungs were on fire!
If Rahan does not give up, the "Territory of Shadows" awaits him!

He slowly went back to the pontoon where Arao was waiting for him anxiously.
Rahan saw the stone! He touched it!
But if the secret is serious, no one will ever know it!

Because it is impossible for a man to stay under water longer than Rahan has just stayed there!

This new failure was quite discouraging.
It only irritated Rahan, who had just won everyone's sympathy.
Do not be so worried!
You have already done much more than us, since you are the first to have touched the magic stone!

Page Ten.

Rahan wants to do more!
Since he cannot unravel the secret of the stone under the water, he would like to bring it up to the sun with lines perhaps.

You are a fool, "Fire hair!"
You did not even have time to scrape the shells!
How would you figure out how to tie up these vines?

Yes. You have lost your mind!
It has already happened to those who stayed too long in the "Deep Waters"!
It was another night of meditation for the son of Crao.

How to stay underwater longer!?
We should carry a reserve of air like hunters carry a reserve of food!
Yes, Rahan is crazy to think of such a thing!

It was at daybreak, when he was in despair, that the solution came to light.
Rahan may have found it!
A fisherman was returning from the spring with a pig's bladder swollen with water.

And his inventive spirit once again made an association of ideas.
If the bladder keeps water in reserve, why would it not keep air?
Page Eleven.

He emptied the water and re-inflated the bladder with air.
Hold your breath as if you were underwater.
Rahan, he will breathe with this gourde!

The experience was conclusive.
Pinching his nose and sucking in little puffs of air, Rahan lasted ten times longer than the fishermen!

Prepare some lines brothers!
We will weigh them down with stones and Rahan will find them when he reach the bottom!

The son of Crao did not want to postpone another attempt.
This was why, shortly after, a flotilla moored at the pontoon.
The sharks, more numerous than the day before, moved away when the long vines were submerged.

Rahan is ready!

He very quickly found the flat stone.
While he was cutting one of the weighted vines.

Page Twelve.

Daring young fishermen took turns under the pontoon to attract the “blue skins” towards them.

This diversion allowed him to tie the first vine.
He was now breathing thanks to the air from the bladder.
Without the Air Gourd Rahan would already be dead.
Or he would have had to go back a long time ago!

But the bladder was emptying.
He just had time to tie a second vine and begin the ascent.
Oh! Rahan will not have the strength to fight the "Beak of teeth"!

He knew this fish was as formidable as a “Blue skin.”
Aspiring the last breath of air, he abandoned the fight.

But as soon as the ivory knife was drawn, the “Tooth beak” disappeared.
He has never seen a man go so deep. He is worried.

Exhausted, with ringing ears and painful eyes, he finally surfaced.
He was helped onto the pontoon.
It is incredible! You have done it, brother! You succeeded!

Page thirteen.

The fishermen hauled the vines stretched to the point of breaking.
The "Magic Stone" was finally torn from the depths where it had rested for five hundred seasons!

When it appeared, throats closed.
We would never have dared to wish for such a miracle!
We owe it to you Rahan!
Uh. We owe it mainly to a pig's bladder!

When the flotilla returned to shore an ovation arose.
Women and men hailed the feat of the son of Crao.

A little later.
The “stone” is on this beach thanks to you!
It is up to you to have the honor of extracting his secret from it!
Under the emotional gaze of the clan, Rahan set to work.

For a long, long time, the ivory blade stuck to the shells and scraped the moss.
Hearts stopped beating when the first lines of a strange drawing appeared, carved in the granite.

Rahan had to peel off other shells, scrape again.
And suddenly!
Page Fourteen.

Everyone saw him turn pale.
What is going on "Fire hair"!?
What do you have!?

Look!
This is why so many of you sacrificed your twenty year olds for.
A secret that you have known for several generations!

The engraving was stylish but easy to decipher.
The symbol of the hands armed with flint, topped with stars and flames, was clear.

In the dawn of time, the ancestors of your ancestors did not know how fire is born from stones-that-throw-stars.
They went to look for this secret on a distant island, where a clan had discovered it.

They could have abandoned this stone which revealed the secret to them.
But, no doubt out of pride, they wanted to bring it back to their territory.

But they all left in the storm and the "Magic Stone" was swallowed up by the "Deep Waters"!
And the seasons passed by the hundreds.

Page Fifteen.

And your clan discovered the power of the “Stones-that-throw-stars!”
They discovered the secret of fire themselves!
And we continued to stupidly, uselessly brave “deep waters”!
For nothing!

Arao and his tribe, devastated, thought of all those who had sacrificed themselves to respect the "Custom."
“Those-who-walk-upright” certainly have the right to discover the secrets of nature and the duty to clarify its mysteries.

But they must do it without fanaticism, and only take the risk of losing their lives when they have a chance, however small it may be on their side!
We will not forget these wise words!

Rahan knows that this cruel joke will have served!
The clan will no longer challenge the “Deep Waters!”
Arao can reach his twenties without apprehension.

It was, on the edge of the “Endless River,” a night of great celebration.
The son of Crao was happy. Glad to have “Invented” the “Gourd of air.”
Happy, above all, to know that Braha had been the last victim of "Deep Waters!"
He mechanically turned his ivory knife.
Where will he go tomorrow? Towards what adventure?