Rahan. Episode Twenty-Four. The Ivory Knife.

Rahan.

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Episode Twenty-Four.

The Ivory Knife.

How many times did you save Rahan's life?
Ten times the fingers of both hands?

Maybe even more!
Without you, Rahan would have long since joined the "Territory of Shadows"!

The sun plays on the marvelously polished evenness of the ivory blade.
The son of Crao thoughtfully admired his weapon.

The remembrances of combat of incredible violence are tangled in his memory.

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Combats which had always ended with its clamor of victory.
A clamor that all the life of the jungle now knew!

Absorbed in his memories, the son of Crao had not noticed the rustling of the branches.

The "enemy" speaks to the "Thing-that-shines".
And the "Thing" responds by throwing lights!!

This time, the Breeze bought Rahan the whisper of the two ambushers.
Who watches Rahan without daring to show himself?!

Only those with bad intentions hide like cowards!
And Rahan hates cowards!

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A hunter emerged from the thickets, his club in his hand.
Give Kabak the "Thing-that-Shines" and Kabak will let you go in peace!

This "Thing" is a weapon!
It belongs to Rahan!
The man pointed to the lizard sheath where Rahan had slipped his cutlass.

And if Kabak wants to rob him, he will have to fight Rahan!
Well planted on his legs, the son of Crao waited for the attack of the man.

But the treacherous attack came from elsewhere!
When he turned his head, it was already too late.

The club of a second hunter, who was swinging from a vine, struck his neck on the fly.
Crack!

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When the son of fierce ages recovered his spirits, his head was still sore and his vision was blurry.
Men stirred and murmurs arose here and there.
But above all, he heard Kabak's voice.

Who, imitating the son of Crao, spoke to the ivory knife!
Answer Kabak "Thing-that-shines"!
Kabak wants to know your power!

As the weapon remained mute, the chief of the clan challenged Rahan.
Why does the "Thing-that-Shines" not obey Kabak!?
Why does she not tell him if the hunt will be good?

Because she only obeys Rahan!
Who alone can understand her language!
Rahan understood the advantage he could derive from Kabak's credulity.

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So ask the "Thing" if the hunt will be good for our clan!
The son of Crao solemnly seized the knife that the man held out to him.

And made it play under the sun.
The ivory blade flashed several times.
She says a young mammoth!!
It wanders on the side of the Great River.

If Kabak and his hunters act fast, they can kill this Mammoth!
Rahan hoped to drive away the men of the clan.

But the chief issued an order.
And ten hands grabbed him.
If Rahan was right, he will be free.
But if he lied it is he who will be killed!!

A moment later, the son of Crao was pinned to a rock and tied up.
Kabak had taken up the ivory weapon.

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Rahan is not "The enemy" of "Those-who-walk-upright"!
Give him his freedom!

But the clan chief did not listen to the captive.
He had gone away and was talking to the knife.
Kabak wants to know.

Is it true that a mammoth roams near the great river??
Answer "Thing-that-shines"! Answer!!

The "Thing" doesn't hear you!
It only answers Rahan's questions!

As the glints of the ivory blade had no meaning for him, Kabak furiously brandished the weapon.

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Since you did not want to answer Kabak, you will disappear forever!!

Rahan growled in rage.
Over there, the chief had just thrown the ivory cutlass into an abyss.

Gathering all his men Kabak disappeared into the forest.
When they return, they will send Rahan into the Shadow Land!

Although the son of Crao was exceptionally strong, all his efforts to break the shackles were in vain.

Rahan won't let himself be killed by Kabak-the-stupid!
Rahan must find a way to free himself!

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An idea suddenly came to him, which brought a smile to his lips.
If Rahan cannot break this vine, he can free it from this rock!

Bracing himself on a projection he rose slightly then, with a shake, raised the vine to his height.

Ten times he repeated this maneuver.
His back, bruised by the granite, mattered little to him.
He was now halfway up the rock!

His feet found new points of support and he was still rising.
The vine relaxed with each jolt.

And he must stretch it so as not to fall and see the end of all his efforts.

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He finally reached the top of the rock.
With a final shake he freed the vine.

And brutally descended the slab of granite.
He was free!
Ra-ha-ha!

The echo of his victorious cry slowly died out as he lowered his wrists free.
Kabak will think Rahan is a wizard!

The joy of the son of fierce ages for his deliverance was tarnished by the loss of his precious knife.
Kabak threw it into this abyss.

Water from an underground spring was a mirror, reflecting at the very bottom of this circular hole.
Vines took hold along the moss-covered wall.

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But they are too thin to support the weight of Rahan.
Zlac!

And Rahan cannot dive in, without knowing the depth of the water!
It may have been, in fact, only a slice of a sheet of water.

Into which a dive would have been fatal.
This stone will enlighten Rahan!

A moment later the stone attached to the thin vine descended slowly into the abyss.

It disappeared under the black water, and sank, and sank, and sank further.
The water is deep enough! Rahan can dive!

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In fact, the son of Crao let himself fall into the abyss rather than plunge into it.
Ra-ha-ha!

His body burst into the icy water, between the few dead branches stuck between the walls.

The darkness was almost total and Rahan, in search of the knife, felt the rocky bottom, groping.

Several times he had to come back to the surface to breathe.
Rahan is as stupid as Kabak!
He did not even think of how he will get out of this abyss!

His fingers finally felt the ivory handle of his knife.
And that was when something twirled around him!

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It was a strange fish that sprang from a fissure that the son of Crao had not noticed.

This monster of darkness may come from an underground lake, was it dangerous?
Without a doubt!

He had no eyes, or rather, a plate of scales obstructed them.
But Rahan caught a glimpse of the horrible mouth, bristling with sharp teeth.

The blade of the ivory knife ripped open the monster, whose attack he had just dodged!

Rahan hates these fights in the night!
Rahan prefers the daylight, the sky, the sun!

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The daylight, the sky, the sun, the son of the fierce ages will find them.

The first vine to which he clung gave way under his weight, and fell into the abyss like an endless snake.

The rock covered with sticky moss offered no holds.
But yet, Rahan suddenly had a hope.

He felt under him a powerful eddy.

Crao had said that there are rivers under the earth.
And that these rivers sometimes invade chasms like this!

The blue indeed rose, blocking the branches wedged between the walls.
And Rahan rode with it towards the open day, towards the sky.

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The son of Crao's clamor of hope was prolonged by a gasp of resentment.
Ra-ha-ha!

The eddy had stopped and the water stopped rising.
The level had risen only a few meters.

The open sky, all the top, remained inaccessible to Rahan!
Rahan should have reflected and not only thought about his knife!

Now Rahan is like a trapped beast!
Kabak's hunters will come back and slaughter him in this trap!

No, Rahan doesn't want to join the "Territory of Shadows"!
Rahan wants to live!
He Will Live!

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The son of fierce ages held on to one of the dead branches.
The broken vine floated on the surface.

He was watching the branches.
He watched the vine.
The Branches. The creeper.
The Branches. The creeper.

An idea was born in his mind and quickly took shape.
He suddenly screamed.
Rahan knows how to get out of the abyss!

A moment later he was busy among the branches, choosing those whose length suited his project.

It was almost joyfully that he shortens one of them.
Once again Rahan's knife will save his life!

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How could these branches, thrown into this chasm at random by the storms, come to the aid of the son of Crao?

Shortly after he had tied the ends of the vine to the two branches.
Rahan discovered the trap to get out of the traps!

These branches were slightly longer than the diameter of the chasm.
Rahan wedged the first one between the walls, and hoisted himself onto it.

With the aid of a vine, he hoisted the second branch.
And.

As this perch supported him, his victory cry thundered, amplified by the rocky corridor.
Ra-ha-ha!

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The branch like the previous one, was jammed above him.
And so the imaginative son of Crao rose into the abyss!!!
Abandoning each perch, to climb onto the other!

He moved slowly, carefully leaning on the raised ends of the branches.

The slightest wrong move could have thrown him back into the black waters.

Or, he guessed, other monsters, similar to the one he had killed.

But Rahan, son of Crao, son of fierce ages, knew how to be calm when the situation demanded it.

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He was about to reach the edge of the abyss when the shouts of the Kabak hunters rose, very close.

Rahan will not have time to escape them!
Gripping the granite ledge, he saw a few men running.

And these come to a standstill, like statues, in front of the rock to which they had tied their captive.

Rahan's disappearance must have seemed miraculous to them.
Because they knelt at the foot of the rock and prostrated themselves several times.

A noise from the side of the abyss suddenly caught their attention.
The branch on which Rahan was leaning was unblocked.

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And it fell into the void, dragging the second with it!
Plooch!
The son of Crao could no longer resist the hunters!

Others came out of the forest, preceded by Kabak.
As Rahan climbed out of the abyss.

Rahan hates fighting with "Those-who-walk-upright"!
But he will not let himself go without a fight!

Why would we kill Rahan, since he told the truth!
YOU!
We found the mammoth near the big river!

Other hunters were coming, carrying huge quarters of meat.

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But Rahan knew how not to show his astonishment.
Rahan had lied to keep the hunters away.
And they really found a mammoth.

Kabak promised you freedom!
Kabak has only one word!
Rahan can travel in peace on our territory!

The son of Crao went on his way.
The night found him in a tree, his knife close to him, as he was used to.

Rahan sends the clan on a hunt for an imaginary mammoth and the clan finds a mammoth!
This is probably what Crao called "Chance"!!

Accustomed as he was to dangers, the son of the fierce ages considered his adventure banal.
He fell asleep peacefully, while the moon hung its pale light on the ivory weapon.

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