Rahan. Episode 167. By Roger Lecureux. The Queen of Shadows. A Puke(TM) Comic.

Translated by the Son of the Puke Ages.
Index:
https://rumble.com/v3486cm-rahan-index-of-episodes-by-roger-lecureux..html

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

Rahan.

The Son of the Ferocious Ages!

Episode One Hundred and Sixty-Seven.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The Queen of Shadows.

A shadow enveloped him, and the son of Crao, with a flash, thought that this was the last vision he would have of the world of the living.
His hands protected his neck in vain.
No!

Vrang!
Rahan thought his skull was splitting open like a bursting berry!

The landscape and the sky fractured and turned the color of blood.
It was the agonizing plunge into this unknown world.

Which was called, in those fierce times, the "Kingdom of Shadows".
He fell into nothingness, assailed by visions of his lost life.

Visions of blood and gold, like in a blazing nightmare.
That of his parents sacrificing themselves to save the very "Little Man" that he had been.
Page Two.

Then that of his adoption by Crao.
His happy childhood with Shawa-l'Ancient, who had given him the name Ra-han, the son of the brave.

Then it was.
The terrible night, the one where the Blue mountain’s anger had decimated all his kind.

Making him the only.

Survivor of the clan.

That night when Crao bequeathed him the five-claw necklace.

Crao received this necklace from his father, who received it from him!
There is the mark of courage, that of loyalty.
That of kindness.
Of tenacity, and of sagacity!
Only these qualities.

Can make a "Little Man" a man worthy of that title!

Rahan will strive to become a hunter worthy of wearing this collar, worthy of Crao!
Rahan swears it!
Page Three.

Throughout his wild adolescence, He remained faithful to his oath.
An adolescence punctuated by confrontations and captures.

As when he fell into the hands of the river clan, whose chief intended to cut out his tongue!

He saw himself again, stealing from this cruel being what would become his most precious possession, his ivory knife!

The knife to which he had so often owed his life, but had never used it against "Those-who-walk-upright", his brothers!

His fall into nothingness stopped abruptly.
At the same time he stopped suffering.

Oh. What, what!

Rahan would have thought it would be harder to cross the border of the "Shadow Kingdom"!

Page Four.

Rahan has never seen such big "Wampas" before!
The "Cutlass Beaks" that dived from the red clouds were gigantic.

But, even more fantastic, they were ridden by "Little men"!
This valley is not yours, "Fire-Hair"!
That of the "Dead Hunters" is beyond the mountains.
Rahan was confused.

Either Rahan has really arrived in the "Shadowland."
Or he is having a horrible nightmare?

The son of Crao pricked himself slightly with the ivory point. And.
Aie!
He had felt the sting.
So, he was not dreaming!

Rahan is still alive!
Still alive!
Perhaps!
But he is still in the "Shadow Realm"!

Page Five.

Your place is in the "Valley of the Hunters", not in the "Valley of the Children"!

If we had lived, we would have become sturdy hunters like you, if the "Shadow Queen" hadn't torn us from the world of the living!

You yourself will soon be nothing more than a shadow in the service of the "Queen."
Unless she decides to reduce you to dust!

Rahan rushed towards a cavern under a hail of projectiles, which were nothing other than human skulls!
Rahan would be stupid to still doubt!
He is definitely in the "Shadow Kingdom"!

And suddenly.
A "Cutlass Beak" had just pinned him to the ground, and, incredibly.

Rahan felt no pain!

Page Six.

Zwarza!
On the orders of his young "Cavalier", the wampas freed Rahan

Who resumed his course towards a fault in the wall.
He.
He pursues Rahan!
Back, “Hair of Fire”! This cave is forbidden to newcomers!

Oh.
Everything is strange in the "Shadow Kingdom"!
The cave was lit by a fire with green flames!

The son of Crao had the impression that the giant "Wampa" was breaking through the granite wall!
I have to take you to the "Hunters' Valley"!
Rahan was confused!

Back, "Little Man"!
Even in death, Rahan wants to remain free to make his own decisions!
Free!?
You must have left your sanity with the living, Rahan!

Page Seven.

As the "Wampa" attacked.
Rahan still has enough reason left to resist this creature!

Rahan plunged his green-flamed torch into the fearsome beak!
Ra-ha-ha! Zwarza! Zwarza!

The monster flapped its wings, and unseated its young rider.
Ha-ha-ha!
The monsters of this kingdom are as afraid of fire as the "living" are!

And disappeared, crossing the rock as if he had done so with a cloud.

As for you, little man, you will tell Rahan.

No! This, this.
The child had just disintegrated in the hands of the son of Crao.

Page Eight.

The son of Crao could not control his anger.
You have to be as cruel as you are, "Death" to destroy "Little Men" like this!

An idea took hold of him.
Since Rahan is already in the Kingdom of Death, he no longer has to fear the "Queen of Shadows"!

His challenge thundered through the cavern.
Come on, "Death"!!
Rahan wants to see you face to face!
Do not wish for it too much, "Fire-Hair"!

Everyone will appear, sooner or later, before the "Queen-of-Shadows." Your turn will come!
Who?
Who are you, Grandfather!?

Rahan thought his reason was capsizing!

Page Nine.

But what about you? How did you die?
Rahan was killed during a fight.
By the most disloyal, the most treacherous adversary he has ever faced!

If you are new to the "Shadowlands," you may not yet know that it is made up of four valleys.

There is the "Valley of the Hunters", which will become yours, and the "Valley of the Ancestors", to which I belong!

There is the "Valley of those who walk upright" and the "Valley of little men".

Page Ten.

Each valley is represented by one of its own, who sits beside the "Queen."
Ha-ha-ha!
It's a bit like "The Great Council of Shadows."

If only the "Queen" did not always impose her orders.
She only enforced one law.
Her own!

But you yourself.
It is already whispered throughout the four valleys that you are the most daring hunter to come to us from among the living in a long time!

It is also said that you have never stolen a single man's life!

And that you have always refused to be complicit in "Death"!
If all this is true.

You can expect serious trouble with the "Queen of the Shadows"!

Page Eleven.

It is true that Rahan always thought that life was sacred, and that.
No one has the right to steal someone else's!

Hum.
If everyone thought like you, the land of the dead would be nothing but a desert!
The "shadow queen" herself would not exist!

Er, er!
The son of Crao realized that he had never pushed his reasoning to this point.

Well, fine, Grand father!
The "Territory of Shadows" would not exist.
Men would slowly, peacefully, naturally fade away.

You mean they would all die of old age!?
Yes. That is it!
Ha-ha-ha! You were perhaps the most daring of the living.

But you are probably the most naive of the dead! Well, I like you, Rahan!
I am going to teach you how to conduct yourself better.
In your life of death!
 
Page Twelve.

The only way to avoid nothingness is to be forgotten, and above all, to never be noticed by the "Queen"!

The best thing, in short, is to "Play dead"!
Ha-ha-ha! "Play dead." That's funny! Do you not think!?
Hum. Not too much!

Those who stand out are reduced to dust and sent into nothingness for eternity!

The "Queen" can pulverize from a distance anyone who displeases her!

She knows how to make herself invisible and prowls everywhere.
Perhaps she is spying on us right now!?

Invisible!? Striking at a distance!?
The son of Crao, so comfortable in fair, open-air confrontations, was afraid of this unreal, unimaginable, fantastic world.

You cannot resist the "Queen"!?
"Death" can strike whoever it wants, wherever it wants, whenever it wants!
And never forget that the "Queen of Shadows" is "Death" herself!
Page thirteen.

Are you not afraid that "your queen" will punish you for revealing her cruelty to Rahan?
Well. I do not have much left to lose!

I am just an old ghost now.
That's true, Hurka.
But you have become too much of a talkative ghost!
No one could say where the voice came from.

Invisible! To strike whoever she wants, wherever she wants, whenever she wants!
You only deserve nothingness, Hurka!

And this will be an example for this hunter whose arrival in our kingdom has been reported to me!
Oh!

Of the old man who had just vanished, all that remained was a little ashes that a breath of air dispersed.
What is your name, "Fire-Hair"?

Rahan did not let the charm of the voice, which had become sweet, work upon him!
So you do not even know the names of those whose lives you're stealing!
I am Rahan, son of Crao!
And Rahan hates you, "Death"!

Page Fourteen.

Do not call me "Death," Rahan! From now on, you will say "My Queen," like everyone else does!

I do not mind your insolence!
It is a change from all those spineless people who never stop mourning their lost lives!
Yes!
We will meet again soon, Rahan!

Death has no power over objects made of wood or stone.
He had seized Hurka-the-Elder's fine javelin.

The son of Crao thought he saw a spider-woman.
Rahan has visions!
His eyes lie to him and his mind deceives him!

And passed into another cavern where, strangely enough, a silent waterfall was flowing!
The world of shadows is also that of silence!

Rahan will never grovel at your feet, "Death"!
Never!
Although he had uttered this challenge, no echo repeated it!

Page Fifteen.

Rahan can still think.
So, if he thinks, it means he is not quite a "Shadow" yet!

But does Rahan still feel any sensations? Water. The cold.
It was almost with joy that he ran towards the silent waterfall.

And.
Ra-ha-ha!
He smelled the water.
He smelled the cold of the water.
He smelled the claws of the water.
He offered himself to them.

And everything became clear.
Only one solution imposed itself on his mind.
Rahan is definitely in the "Shadow Realms."
But he is still alive!

And Rahan is certain that he will never crawl before you, "Death"!

Page Sixteen.

Where are these four valleys that Hurka the Elder spoke of?
Was the "Territory of Shadows" just a labyrinth of eerie caverns?

Oh!

Did the being who forbade Rahan from going further deserve the title of man?
No one enters here without the "Queen"!

For here begins the sacred sanctuary of faithful shadows!
Here rest all those who have venerated our "Queen"!

So indeed, Rahan has no place in this sanctuary.
Since he hates your queen!

What did you say!?
Euh.
The monster-man's hand was so powerful, that it could have suffocated the son of the fierce ages with a simple grip!

Page Seventeen.

But Rahan had anticipated this reaction.
His ivory knife forced the monstrous fingers to unclench.
Aie! Tork will break your bones one by one!

Ha-ha-ha!
Tork is just a braggart!

Thrown with incredible precision.
The fine javelin.
Ra-ha-ha!

Pierced the ear-lobe of the giant.
Aie!

Tork will beat you to a pulp!
And if you run into "Your Queen," tell her it's the latest fashion among the "Living"!
Ha-ha-ha!
In his fury, the giant forgot the javelin and dove toward the crack where Rahan had slipped.

With his ear suddenly torn off, the monster-man became mad with rage.
Argh!
Page Eighteen.

He searched the rift, hoping to put an end to this "Little Man", who was holding him in check.
But.

Ra-ha-ha!
Blinded by the sand, Tork-the-Giant did not even see Rahan rush into the forbidden cavern!

Coming from who knows where, a greenish light bathed the sanctuary.
It, it is incredible!
The son of Crao was frozen.

Petrified, like the stone men lined up under the macabre light.
So this is what death worshippers become!
They are not stone statues.
But hunters of flesh and blood, petrified by the water of this strange source!

A few bodies lay in the limestone jungle, which made them "totem men"!

Page Nineteen.

How long had these faithful been there?
Since death is immortal, some may have been there forever, and will remain there until the end of time!

Once again, the son of Crao was struck by shock.
Ghor-goa! Ghor-goa, the lone-wolf hunter!

He recognized, under the limestone mask, this man with whom he had lived such a moving adventure.

He remembered the tragic moment when, to save his life, Ghor-goa had sacrificed his own!

Watch out behind you, Rahan! Behind you!
He saw himself turning around again, suddenly. And.
Schlaff! Argh!

Page Twenty.

The last memory he had of the lone hunter came back to him.
Why did you shout "Behind You"!?
You knew Rahan would turn around and you would get hit by that arrow!
Why did you sacrifice yourself!?

Did you not teach me that nothing is more beautiful than friendship between.
"Those-who-walk-upright"!?
I have proven mine to you. I am leaving happily for the "Shadows"!

Rahan understands why death has honored you with this sanctuary.
It is because you willingly gave yourself over to her!

The wolf hunter remained in the position where the deadly arrow had stolen his life.
Rahan has never forgotten you and will never forget you!
Farewell, Ghor-goa.
Farewell, brother!

This fantastic reunion would obsess the son of Crao, until the blood and fire colored sky reappeared.
What danger awaits Rahan?
Everything seems possible in the "Shadow Kingdom"!
Everything!
Everything!
Page Twenty-One.

However.
The "Fire-Haired" hunter has just desecrated the sanctuary of the faithful!
Even Tork the Giant could not stop him!

You are showing this hunter a great deal of indulgence, Queen!
Do you have a soft spot for him?

Rahan will be destroyed whenever I see fit!
Neither before nor after!
What if he escapes you?!

Impossible!
So many sometimes delay their appearance before me.
No one can escape it!
Neither Rahan. Nor any of you!

"Firehair" has crossed the Valley of the Ancients and is heading toward the Valley of the Goraks.
Should I bring him back to you, Queen?!

Not yet!
I want him to lose his pride and know fear!
I want him to beg me to welcome him into our kingdom!
Page Twenty-Two.

The son of Crao had just been attacked by countless "Goraks".
Rahan remembers you!
Those wild beasts who had torn his parents to pieces, the only ones he hated.

There were all the "Goraks" he had fought and killed since childhood!
So the "Goraks" have the same shadow kingdom as "Those-who-walk-upright"!

His ivory knife met only emptiness, and he himself did not feel the blows of clawed paws.
Ra-ha-ha!

Suddenly, the pack of felines melted into the landscape.
They were just "Ghost Goraks," a trick of the Shadow Queen to scare Rahan!

The queen hopes Rahan will give in to terror!
The "Queen" hopes Rahan will beg her to take him in!
You are wrong, "Death"! Rahan will not give in.
Never to your blackmail!

Page Twenty-Three.

Rahan will never surrender to you, "death"!
You might capture him.
You might enslave him.
But he will never bow to you!

Never! Never! Never!

Never! Never.
Oh.
The son of Crao had screamed so loudly that the echoes, this time, resounded in this fantastic world.

The distant mountains trembled.
The ground cracked.
Cracked. Cracked on all sides!
No!

Rahan had experienced earthquakes that preceded the eruption of the "Thundering Mountains."
What was happening was a thousand times more terrifying!

Page Twenty-Four.

The crevices joined, opened, widened.
As far as the horizon could see, it was nothing but a fantastic puzzle falling apart.
Crack.

The son of Crao, overcome with anxiety, had to leap over these crevasses.
It was an endless.

Jump from one "island" to another, which in turn cracked!
Death wants to drag Rahan into the bottomless abyss of nothingness!

The crevasses were becoming too numerous.
Much too wide to be jumped.

Rahan felt as if the crevasses were closing above him!
Argh!
It was like falling into another world!

Page Twenty-Five.

The abyss suddenly became a bottleneck, but he still fell.

Rahan may always fall. Until the end of time!

Why does "Death" make "Those-who-walk-upright" suffer?

No sooner had this thought come to him than.

He found himself riding something moving.
Something growling.
Oh.

The jet of fire that the dragon spat out illuminated the cavern.
Groon!

Each tooth of the monster was more formidable than the ivory knife, which Rahan had instinctively drawn.

Page Twenty-Six.

Ra-ha-ha!
Avoiding the terrible maw, Rahan grabbed the monster's scaly neck and plunged the ivory weapon into it.

Braking his fall, the skin of his neck and chest split.

The split in the belly opened like that of an overripe fruit bursting!

And then, horror struck.

One, two, three more dragons emerged from the creature's entrails!
Three more monsters, also vomiting fire!

"Death" throws all his forces against Rahan, but.
Rahan resists!
Rahan wants to be alive!
To be alive!

Page Twenty-Seven.

Rahan could not hope to repel the dragons that overwhelmed him, nor to escape them.

He thought he saw and heard the "Queen-of-Shadows" calling him.
You have proven your courage enough, Rahan!
It is time to come to me!

Come!
Come!
Stop resisting me!
Give yourself to me, Rahan!

Never!

The son of Crao had only stones to delay the monsters.
Ra-ha-ha!
He knew this final resistance was futile, but he tried it.

Page Twenty-Eight.

Back! Monsters, Back!
He was once again brandishing heavy stones.
But he could not throw them.

Lassos had just tied his wrists!

He was ripped from the ground the moment the dragons charged!

The women who had just saved him were riding monstrous vampire bats.
The time has come for the final contest, "Fire Hair"!

The queen has done you too much honor by delaying it so long!

What. What. What.

They are sent by "Death"!
The strange riders passed from cave to cave. These had turned purple.

Page Twenty-Nine.

And now the blues and grays were taking over.
This time, there is no doubt!
Rahan must be at the very heart of the "Shadow Kingdom"!

He was dropped abruptly onto a smooth, shiny floor like ice.
We bring you "Fire-Hair," as you requested, "queen"!
We hope you will not spare him any longer!

The son of Crao threw off the lassos, without daring to look up.
These colors. This cold. Rahan is in the lair of death!

Here is the final appearance, Rahan!
But I thought you swore you would never grovel at my feet!?

At the bottom of the crystal cavern, on a macabre altar, the Queen of Shadows had just appeared!

It was like a whiplash.
Rahan sat up abruptly.
Rahan does not Crawl, Death!

Page Thirty.

The altar, made of human bones, was reflected in the pale marble floor.
The "Queen of Shadows" descended from it, as beautiful as she was disturbing.
Rahan.
Rahan.
The hunter who never wanted to help me in my task.
The one who, of all hunters, challenged me the most!

You are finally at my mercy, Rahan!
After the final appearance, you will be nothing more than a shadow among the others!

Approach, Rahan! Approach!
Come and receive the first and last kiss from "Your" queen!

Call me "Queen"!
All the shadows here call me "Queen"!
No! You are death!
Rahan will call you "Death"!

Page Thirty-One.

Rahan will not come near you, "Death"!
Because he wants to be alive!
You hear.
Alive!
Alive!
Alive!

Do not say that word anymore, Rahan, that word scares me!
Not only was the Shadow Queen no longer approaching, but she was the one retreating!

You have so often scared "Those-Who-Walk-Upright"!
It is your turn to be scared!
Yes.
Rahan wants to be alive! Alive!

Alive! Alive! Alive!
Enough!
Enough!
Fear made "The-Queen-of-Shadows" even paler!

To me, Tork! To me, archers!
Page Thirty-Two.

The guardian of the sanctuary of the faithful, the monster-man who had already confronted Rahan, appeared first.
Tork is here, Queen!

The death riders appeared in turn.
What is going on queen!?
Would you have any trouble with the fire-haired hunter?

Yes.
He shouts the words forbidden in our kingdom!

The son of Crao stood against Tork-the-Giant.
You will not escape me a second time, "Fire-Hair"!
Oh!

Koak the Deceiver!
The monster-man suddenly transformed into.
A clan leader Rahan recognized!

Page Thirty-Three.

His shock was such that Rahan could not avoid the blow of the club!
Vlang! Argh!

You do not strike an opponent on the ground! a voice yelled. And that was it.
Vragh!
The club had fallen a second time!

The son of Crao thought he saw the "Queen".
What right does Kork have to take that hunter's life!
I alone, in this kingdom, have that right!

Koak must pay for his felony immediately!
Rahan saw, as if in a fog, the riders dragging Koak-the-deceiver away.

And hang him from a rock ledge.
Why? Death. Does she not reduce him. To dust. Like she. Has the Power?

Page Thirty Four.

When the "Horsewomen of Death" bent their bows, he.

Tried to sit up.
Do not do this! Spare Koak.
Too late!

He fell back onto his back.
And death leaned over him.
You are showing your generosity, Rahan!
But.
I cannot pardon those who usurp my power!

But you, you have never tried to kill me!
So I can spare you.
Yes. I will spare you!

The "Queen" retreated into the gray and blue shadows of her lair.
But do not think you are immortal, Rahan!
For you too.

Page Thirty Five.

The day of the final appearance will come.
That is why I do not say.
Good bye, but until we meet again.

The Shadow Queen faded and disappeared, like a spider in its web.
Au revoir, Rahan, until we meet again.

Rahan has won!
Rahan has repelled death!
The macabre decor disintegrated in a dazzling light.

Rahan is alive! Rahan is alive!
He saw the sun blazing in the sky above the green waves of the hills.

He saw the men, the women, the old people and the "Little Men" who surrounded him.
He saw the looks. The smiles.

Page Thirty Six.

Rahan must be dreaming.
No, brother.
But we no longer hoped to save you from death!
You have been delirious for two days and two nights!

Two days and two nights that you were screaming, that you fought against the "shadows"!
Rahan remembers.

The son of Crao was recovering from his unconsciousness.
He saw again his arrival in this hospitable and joyful clan.
Welcome to you, “Hair of fire.”

He heard again the challenge launched by Noak-the-Chief.
Our custom is for the leader to confront any newcomer in fair hand-to-hand combat!
A kind of game, in short!

Yes.
It all started out well, like a game.
Each player took turns having the advantage.
Very good, "Fire-Hair"!
Very good!

Page Thirty Seven.

The son of Crao had been proclaimed the winner, when.
Koak has not said his last word, "Fire-Hair"!

Vrang!
Surprised, Rahan could not dodge the blow.

You do not hit a downed opponent, Koak!
Koak-the-deceiver, violating clan law, had struck again!

We thought you were dead!
But Kouika-the-sorcerer said there was still life in you!

We took this knife from you because, in your delirium.
You wanted to slit your wrists.
These words reminded Rahan that he had pricked himself, to see if he was living a nightmare or not.
Aie!

Page Thirty Eight.

As the clan recounted the care they had received, the son of Crao made reconciliations with his terrifying nightmare.

The scratches, administered reluctantly to make him recover his senses.

These were the blows received during the confrontation with the "Guardian" of the sanctuary!

The water that had been sprinkled on him to help him come to.

It was the silent waterfall of his strange nightmare!

The drink the sorcerer had forced him to swallow, that choking sensation.

It was the crevices of the nightmare closing in on him, the burial!

Page Thirty Nine.

And the burning pain caused by this drink, this pain in the stomach.

Had probably spawned the "Fire Monsters" and the disembowelment of the dragon!

And you were so agitated, that we had to tie the wrists.

Wrists shackled.
Rahan relives himself, captured by the lassos of the "Horsewomen of Death"!

So, all this horror was just a nightmare!
Not quite, Rahan.
Since you asked us for Koak's grace!

Oh. That is right. Rahan had forgotten about Koak. Where is he, that Deceiver?
Koak will never commit any deceit again!
He is over there!

Oh.
Just like in his nightmare, Koak-the-deceiver was hanging from a projection, his torso pierced with arrows!

Our clan could not tolerate such a violation of our laws, of its honor!
It was up to our companions to deliver justice!
Page Forty.

Rahan no longer knew very well where his nightmare ended, or where reality began!
One thing is certain.
Rahan is alive!

And it is Koak-the-deceiver who has joined the "Queen-of-Shadows"!

As beautiful as she is cruel!
But.
"Those-who-walk-upright," can push her back. Make her retreat!

The word "life" and the word "alive" frighten "Death"!
If her captives cry out to her face their desire to be alive, their will to be alive, the "Queen of Shadows" can retreat!

Rahan knew that, before leaving this clan, he would have to tell in detail how he had fought off death!
And he would do so very willingly!

Thus would end this curious adventure and this terrifying nightmare that, in those wild ages, this hunter who was called "Rahan, the son of Crao" had!

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