Rahan. Episode Seventeen. The weapon that flies. by Roger Lecureux. A Puke (TM) Comic.

Rahan.

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Episode Seventeen.

The weapon that flies.

Attracted by the clamor of defiance, Rahan came running and saw the child awaiting the shock of the young Mammoth charging him.
This little man seeks death!

This adolescent was too frail to stop the monster's onslaught.
Why does he not run away before being crushed, thought Rahan.

Oh! If Rahan does not act, the little man is lost!
The spear had slipped on the beast’s chest.
A defensive riposte had just thrown the young hunter to the ground!

Page Two:

The cry of combat of the son of Crao thundered in the clearing.
Ra-ha-ha!
You will not defeat Rahan so easily, "Two Teeth"!!

It is Rahan who will strike you down!!
As once did the daring hunters of his clan, he threw himself on the tusks.

Unbalancing the young monster, that sagged heavily to the side.
“Two-teeth” will die!

Rahan was about to strike when a tusk rose, snatching away his knife.
Oh!

The point of this tusk had, by chance, caught the lanyard of the knife!
Suddenly disarmed, the son of Crao saw the mammoth get up and charge.
The knife beat against the tusk, ivory against ivory.

Page Three:

All this happened very quickly and the child, Stunned, saw his savior leaning against a tree.
This hunter is crazy! “Two teeth” will crush him against the trunk!

The Mammoth no longer charged.
He marched heavily towards the man, his forehead bent.
Approach, approach thought Rahan.

You cannot imagine the trap that Rahan is preparing for you!
The tusks were going to pin him against the tree, with its head pressing on his chest.

When he suddenly bent down, circled around the trunk, and grabbed hold of the curved tusks!
We have it, little man! We have it!!

Bring your spear!!
Slide it behind the teeth of this stupid beast!
The mammoth was determined to free itself.

Page Four:

But the son of Crao, braced against the tree, held on until the moment when the solid spear replaced him.
Very good, little man, very good!!

But "Two-Teeth" can still escape us.
We will consolidate this trap!
The boy was confused.

A moment later Rahan had tied the spear to the tusks, using vines.
And now Rahan would like to know your name.
I am Lohic.

And to find out why Lohic dared to face a monster like "Two-Teeth" alone!
The adolescent’s face was sad.

My clan chased me out because I am not strong enough.
I never bring game.

Page Five:

Clan law is terrible for weaklings.
This is why Tayak said yesterday: "Lohic no longer has a place among us! Lohic must leave!"

And you hoped, by killing the "Two-Tooth", to regain the esteem of your clan?!
Yes! That is what I wanted!

Rahan has met many clans where the savage law of force reigns!
He hates this law, and he will tell Tayak!
Take Rahan to your people, Lohic!

Why did you help me? Why do you want to go see Tayak?
Because Rahan would not like Lohic to live the life that was his!

Rahan remembered his own childhood after the eruption of the blue mountain that had decimated his horde, after the death of Crao his father.

Page Six:

Rahan had to flee the inhospitable clans.
He had to live alone, in the jungle, like a beast!
He doesn't want other little men to live like this!

A village appeared from which arose hostile clamors.
The clan hunted Lohic! Why does Lohic dare to violate clan law!

Lohic is a brave hunter, Tayak!
Rahan saw him face "Two-tooth"!
You lie!

A "Two-teeth" belongs to you!
Follow Rahan and you will see that he does not lie!

What happened?
Speak Lohic!
Shortly after the clan hunters discovered the mammoth, so curiously entrapped.
This trap astonished them, and irritated their leader.

Page Seven:

The child told how Rahan had captured the beast.
And the irritation of Tayak kept growing.
Would Rahan be stronger than Tayak!?

Rahan does not know.
We will find out soon enough!
Tayak rushed at the son of Crao, brandishing his heavy club.

And this club, on a simple parrying gesture from Rahan, slipped from his fingers.
Tayak only knows the strength of wild beasts.

He ignores the skill.
And trickery.
Tayak is a beast!!
Indeed, the chief of the clan clung wildly to his adversary.

Clack!
His hand met the ivory knife, which he ripped at savagely, slicing the sheath of skin.

Page Eight:

But he did not have time to use the weapon.
Rahan's grasp compelled him to drop the knife.

Rahan could kill you, but he hates to kill "Those-who-walk-upright"!
Yes, Rahan could have killed you, even from a distance.

Like this!!
Schronch!
The ivory knife, thrown with skill, was embedded in a slender tree trunk.

Rahan was about to recover his weapon, when Tayak's angry cries rang out behind him.
Capture him! Capture him!
Tayak wants this "Weapon-that-flys"!

The thickets were very dense.
The son of Crao disappeared.
The severed sheath could no longer receive its knife.

Page Nine:

And he had to slip the blade under his belt, as before, before he invented his sheath.

The whole clan had chased him and Lohic himself showed a lot of enthusiasm.
If Lohic captures Rahan, the clan will keep Lohic!

More agile than his elders, the faster teenager soon outdistanced them, and Rahan saw that he was very close to him.

Lohic dived onto the fugitive's legs, and rolled on the ground with him!
Ohh!

Rahan would have quickly thrown the child down, but the men of the clan were already springing up from all sides.

Page Ten:

They force Rahan to fight!
Oh!
The son of Crao felt his belt.
His knife was gone!
He had lost it!

And while the attacking pack subdued Rahan, Lohic hid the knife that he had managed to steal from him.

Lohic allowed the clan to capture "The Enemy"!
Lohic has proven himself!
He will stay with the clan!

A glow of pride passed in the eyes of the adolescent.
Lohic has earned the respect of his brothers!

For himself, Tayak was watching the captive’s belt.
Where did you hide "The-Flying-weapon"?
Tayak wants this weapon!!

Page Eleven:

Rahan lost it while he was running from your hunters.
The young Lohic looked away.
Revealing his hiding place.

He did not want Tayak to steal the knife he coveted as much as the chief of the clan.
So he was silent.
Bring "The Enemy" back to the village!

Along the way the hunters scanned the ground, hoping to find "The weapon-that-flies".
But in vain.

Shortly after, they killed the young mammoth whose remains were dragged to the village.
If Rahan's trap prevented "Two-tooth" from escaping.
It can prevent Rahan from escaping from Tayak!

When the animal had to be skinned, the captive's ankles were bound between the heavy tusks.
Rahan can regain his freedom! On one condition!

Page Twelve:

That he makes a "flying weapon" for Tayak!
The chief of the clan threw flints and a piece of ivory near to the son of the fierce ages.

To make a knife like Rahan's it takes as many days as ten times the fingers of two hands!!

Tayak knows how to wait!!
But he wants a thin, sharp weapon.
And that flies as does yours!

From then on began for Rahan a strange captivity.
During the day, under the eyes of the intrigued hunters, he fashioned the piece of ivory.

But when night came, his hands were tied behind his back and two of Tayak’s men watched him.

Page Thirteen:

He remembered how he had stolen it from the chief of the river clan, who wanted to kill him.
And once the knife of ivory, this knife, had become his only asset.

Rahan will never be able to make a knife like his!
Although he scratched and shaped from morning to evening, the piece of ivory remained almost as coarse as on the first day!

Sometimes young Lohic passed him and he thought he could read remorse in his eyes.
Rahan understands you Lohic.

By allowing his capture, you have earned the respect of your people!
And the flints are chipped to remove thin shavings of ivory.
Shavings far too fine!

It was one evening, passing near Tayak's hut that Lohic felt his throat constrict.
And when he's finished "The-Flying-weapon", what will we do with him?

Page Fourteen:

He humiliated Tayak in front of the clan.
He deserves death! We will kill him!!

The young hunter rushed into the jungle.
Lohic doesn't want Rahan dead!
Rahan saved me, Rahan wanted to help me.

A moment later a ray of moonlight hung a yellowish reflection on the blade of the knife which he had concealed there.

That night his guards had dozed off and Rahan was gazing at the barely formed weapon.

He heard a noise.
Chaf!
A knife. His knife! It had just fallen near him!

Page Fifteen:

He caught a glimpse of the frail silhouette slipping away between the huts and understood.
Lohic wants to help Rahan!

The bonds do not resist the knife, stuck between the roots.
However, a slight screeching disturbed the silence.

He had just cut off the lines binding his ankles when one of the guards jumped.
Rahan does not have time to run away!

The man suddenly shook his fellow, pointing out the location where the captive should have been.
This one had disappeared! Only one tusk was lying on the ground!

Doubtless dreading Tayak's anger, these men did not alert the others!
Rahan, amused, saw them wander here and there.

Page Sixteen:

The ruse had succeeded, and he was hanging from the curved tusk that had allowed him to pull himself up under the foliage.
He saw the hunters coming back to the tree.
They watched without understanding the tusk and the severed bonds.
He could not fly away like a bird!

Saying these words the man mechanically raised his eyes.
And he caught a glimpse of the white shape huddled under the foliage.

That was all he saw.

The second hunter had not recovered from his stupor before he was sent to join his companion!

Page Seventeen:

Lurking behind a hut, Lohic had witnessed this brief fight.
His eyes lit up as Rahan disappeared into the thick undergrowth.

Lohic has paid his debt to Rahan!
When Rahan is away, Lohic can alert the clan!

Lohic was too young to know all of Rahan's tricks.
When the shouts rose in the village.

Not only had the son of Crao not fled.
But he had retraced his steps to the outskirts of this village!

As Crao always said, “You never think of looking for game that is already in your cave!”
From his perch, Rahan saw the clan scatter, and spread across the forest.

Page Eighteen:

Tayak howled, leading his group in pursuit of an "enemy" who was there.
Behind him!

Lohic, now admitted by the hunters, led the pursuit without conviction.
Let us go back to the village!
What does it matter if he escaped us!

Besides, does not Rahan walk upright like us?
Why would "Those-who-walk-upright" fight like wild animals??

Crouching up on a low branch, the son of Crao saw this group return to the village.
He heard these words.

And his heart beat faster.
These words were ones he liked to hear.
The sky was turning pink on the horizon and all the hunters were returning.

Page Nineteen:

They do not imagine that Rahan stayed here!
Rahan can now go!

But the son of Crao wanted to see Lohic once again, before leaving this territory, to which he would probably never return.

He surprised the adolescent at the edge of the river.
Oh!
I thought you were far from here!

Rahan wanted to say goodbye to the one who will one day be the chief of the clan!
What are you saying?

The day will come when "those-who-walk-upright" will reject the savage law of force!
Only those who acted as you did will be worthy of being their leaders!
Farewell, Lohic, farewell!

Page Twenty:

The brushwood closed in, definitively this time, on Rahan.
When the sunlight touched the foliage, he was already far, very far away.

For this son of fierce ages this adventure was already forgotten.
Others were waiting.

But as the ivory knife beat at his hip and he risked losing it, he only thought of a new sheath.

This tail will be as solid, as flexible as that of the panther!
And then it will grow back!

The large lizard that lazily whipped the warm rock with its tail could not have known what was going to be taken from it.
The big lizard could not hear the son of Crao, who could crawl quieter than a reptile.

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