Rahan. Episode Seventy. By Roger Lecureux. The spirits of the night. A Puke (TM) Comic.

Rahan.

Episode Seventy.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The spirits of the night.

The son of Crao had already seen mammoth cemeteries but the one he had just discovered was more impressive than all of the others.

What mysterious instinct drives the “Two-tooths” to come and die in the same place?

Suddenly!
Crack!
Ohh!

The shock was very violent
Argh. Rahan will not be able to run for a while!
His leg was sore, but it was just a strained muscle.

Page Two.

It was with a limp that he approached the extraordinary tangle of carcasses eaten away by the rains and the winds. There was a sickening odor of rotting flesh floating there.

Here, the bones had been crushed under the rocks that had been spat out by the volcanoes.
Elsewhere, a lava flow had charred them.

A fine dust of sand and bone ashes accumulated in the crevasses in the cracked ground.
The son of Crao suddenly felt that he was being observed.

And he saw the hyenas following him at a distance.
He hated these disgusting beasts.
You dare not attack Rahan, you corpse eaters. You wait for him to fall!

The pack was indeed watching for the collapse of the man, whom they felt was handicapped.
As Rahan had just jumped a small crevasse his bruised leg gave way.
And.
Argh!

Page Three.

He collapsed, falling flat on his back!
With wild growls, the hyenas turned towards this prey, which they had at their mercy.

Rahan is not dead yet! Back “Corpse Eaters!”

The ivory blade cut the most daring of the attackers.
And it cut the throat of their successor!
Ra-ha-ha!

A blow to the flank of the third had such a jolt, that the son of Crao felt his knife escape!
Oh!

But he no longer had anything to fear from the snarling beasts who left him to tear their fellow creatures to shreds!
Back! Rahan wants his knife!

Page Four.

His ivory knife was still stuck in the side of the beast that the pack was fighting over, at the edge of a narrow crevice.
Back! Back! Back!

His disgust and anger were such that Rahan no longer felt the pain.
Argh!
And the Hyenas cowardly abandoned a fight that had became too difficult!

The son of Crao returned to the rift to find the beast dead and.
Oh!
His knife, which had detached itself from the flesh, had disappeared!

He saw it at the bottom of the crevasse, more than three meters deep, stuck in the bone powder. Inaccessible!
Rahan needs a branch. Or a line.

Shortly after, he had his first failure.
The ivory weapon slipped on the fork and fell flat!
It no longer offered a hold.

Page Five.

To the loop of the lasso that Rahan tried in vain to slip around the handle!
Will Rahan have to abandon his knife!?

This thought of losing his weapon forever was intolerable to him, but suddenly.
The fork cannot grip the knife!
Neither can the lasso! But both together!?

Once again, Rahan's spirit of deduction worked wonders.
Maintaining the slip knot, and using the forked hook.

He was able to pass the loop around the weapon, gently tightening the loop.
Which was impossible without the fork!

Ra-ha-ha!
He could recover his ivory knife!
And his clamor of victory thundered on the cemetery of the “Two-teeth.”

Page Six.

He happily sheathed it when a long trumpet sound rose up.
The “Two teeth” walks like Rahan!

A young mammoth was walking, helplessly.
He hesitated to place one of his hind legs on the ground.
Since we have the same illness, we are brothers!

Let Rahan come near you, "Two-tooth"!
He might be able to do something for you!
The mammoth stood still. Leaning on the carcasses of his ancestors.

He did not flinch when the son of Crao revealed his heavy paw.
A spear flint!
In a moment you will feel better than Rahan!

Extracting the spear point was easy.
You are cured, "Two-tooth"!
And now what are you going to do?
Charge Rahan?

Page Seven.

The young pachyderm, relieved of the pain, observed the man for a moment.
You do not charge?
Rahan did not know that the "Two-Tooths" could be grateful!

The mammoth fled, almost light on his feet.
Jostling the bones where he had perhaps thought he would come to die.

The son of Crao was happy.
Even happier that the pain was finally going away from his leg.
Before the moon comes, Rahan will be far away!
He will have a sweet night!

Rahan could not have known how tormented and fantastic this night would be.

It all started with the hunters who emerged from the forest, surrounding him with a circle of hatred.
Do not kill the enemy with the "Hair of Fire"!
Capture him alive!
We will sacrifice him to the moon!

Page Eight.

Assailed by a group of men, he resisted fiercely.
But.

Zlang!
Argh!

When he regains his senses, he noticed that he had been left with his knife.
Rahan is not an enemy.
He does not want to.
Silence “Hair of Fire!”

All those who do not belong to our clan are enemies!
The son of Crao's rope was pulled unceremoniously.

To the hunters' camp.

Page Nine.

When our mother the moon shines on the top of the great mountain we will offer her your life!
He was firmly attached to a long flat rock, undoubtedly the altar where these moon worshipers sacrificed their captives!

The clan leader harangued his people.
Makawa will kill "Fire Hair" himself!
May Mother Moon thank us by recalling to her of the “Spirits-of-the-Night”!
What were these “Night Spirits” that these men seemed to fear?
Rahan will never know!
These bonds are far too strong for him to break!

Welcome to our territory, “Mother-moon”!
Your sons beg you once again to scare away the spirits of the night!
In the rapidly darkening sky the moon appeared.

In a moment, Rahan will join the “Territory of Shadows”!
The moon was gliding across the sky, slowly approaching the top of the great mountain.

Page Ten.

When it shone like a crown at the tip of the mountain, Makawa approached.
Your impure blood will not stain our weapons!
Makawa will kill you with your own knife!

Makawa offers you the life of “Hair of Fire,” “Mother-Moon”!
The chief's hand closed on the ivory handle.
Nothing could save the son of the fierce ages!

He drew the knife.
Brandished it to strike and.
Screamed in fear!
“Hair-of-Fire” is a spirit of the night!
The blade was giving off a strange green light!

Terrified, Makawa dropped the weapon and retreated towards his people who, in panic, were fleeing in all directions.
Pardon “Mother-Moon!” Pardon!

What a strange thing! Where does this power come from?
Astonished, Rahan observed the blade which shone like a glowworm!

Page Eleven.

Unable to explain this miracle, he contorted himself to bring the weapon closer to his bonds, but his efforts were in vain.
And his helplessness reassured the “Worshipers of the Moon.”
A true “spirit-of-the-night” could be freed!

His weapon is that of a "Night-Spirit.”
But he is not a spirit!
Let us kill him!

The son of fierce ages, his throat tight with anguish, saw the hunters approach with their spears raised.

Suddenly!
If you kill this stranger, we will make you pay for his death!
The clamors had resounded behind them.
The warning reverberated into the night!

Page Twelve.

It was panic again!
The spirits of the night!
The Spirits of the night!

And Rahan believed he saw ghostly greenish beings.
Luminous as the blade of his cutlass, approaching the altar!

Their axes cut through the bonds.
Makawa and his people are savages!
Flee this territory, brother!
Only we can survive it!
Run away and good luck!

The son of Crao had no time to thank his saviors.
The phosphorescent group was already moving away.

And “were extinguished” in the dense thickets of the forest.
Rahan has often seen strange things, but nothing more astonishing than these "Luminous Men"!

Page thirteen.

And you, faithful knife!?
Did you never shine like that on other nights?
As he had just stroked the blade with his fingertips.

Rahan exclaimed.
His fingers, too, glowed in the dark!
Oh! Rahan Understands!
It is the dust that glows. The dust of the “Two-Teeth”!

He saw his knife again at the bottom of the crevasse, stuck in the bone ashes.
Was not that the origin of the mysterious phenomenon?

Perhaps the Night Spirits are just simple hunters who coat their bodies with this powder!?
Rahan wants to know!

The son of wild ages only returned to the mammoth cemetery in the early morning.
The hyenas had been devoured.
The vine with which he had recovered his weapon was still there.

Page Fourteen.

It allowed him to take some mysterious bone powder from the bottom of the rift.

With which he carefully coated his torso, his limbs and his face.
Why does the dust of the “Two-tooths” only shine in the darkness?

Rahan could not know, he would never know, that natural and complex chemical phenomena had transformed this bone ash into the "Phosphor."
He impatiently awaited the return of the night.

When Makawa and his clan found him by chance.
“Fire-hair” Is Not a “Spirit”!
This time he will not escape us!
Oh!

Cornered against the rocky wall, the son of Crao could no longer escape!
The first lances, thrown from afar, narrowly missed him.
Zlang!

Page Fifteen.

When they are closer, they will not miss Rahan!
Oh!
Zlang! Zlang! Schtok!
The “Two-Teeth”!

The young mammoth he had come to the aid of was furiously charging at the "Moon Worshipers."
Who had to face it!

Taking advantage of this unexpected diversion, Rahan set off towards the forest.
Brave “Two-tooth”!
You gave your life to save Rahan's!

His body riddled with spears, the young pachyderm moved away.
He collapsed on his knees, and got up again.
Would he have time to reach the mammoth cemetery?
Rahan hoped so.

Makawa and his wild pack immediately resumed their manhunt.
They had seen the fugitive take refuge in the kingdom of the “Four-Hands”

Page Sixteen.

They pursued relentlessly, screaming with hatred as soon as they caught a glimpse of Rahan moving from line to line.
Kill! Kill!

And for the son of Crao it was suddenly a tragedy.
The forest ended there!
The tree into which he had thrown himself with a fantastic leap.
Was the last!

Unable to turn back he found himself on this isolated tree.
At the mercy of the pack.
Projectiles were already whistling from all sides!

And the most daring climbed the trunk.
Rahan hates killing "Those-Who-Walk-Upright."
But he will be forced to defend his life.

But this fight that Rahan feared so much did not take place.
Cries of terror rose in the twilight.
“Hair of fire” is a “night-spirit”!
Flee! Run away!

Page Seventeen.

High above, in the shadow of the foliage, the son of Crao stood in a greenish halo!
In an instant, he had become a “Luminous man”!
A “Spirit-of-the-night”!

It was a stampede.
Mother Moon will never forgive us for chasing a spirit!
Let us run away! Flee!

Rahan was coming down from his refuge when the thickets parted in front of a few men of light.
We are happy to see you alive, brother!

When we heard the cries of these savages, we feared for you!
It is the "Powder-that-Lights-At-Night" that saved Rahan!

Yes brother!
It is thanks to it that we survive in this territory!
Makawa and his wild beasts think that we are "Envoys of the Moon" and "Spirits of the Night"!
They fear us, and flee from us!

Page Eighteen.

The powder is the only way to protect us from these demons!
Since you have discovered our secret, I hope you will not betray us brother!
Rahan is always faithful.

And he hopes that you will convince Makawa and his people not to behave like hyenas!
Farewell, brothers!
Rahan cannot wait to leave this territory!

When the Son of Crao crossed the river, the greenish fluorescence stretched in his wake.
He regained his appearance!

It was rare that he did not fight bad deeds and actions himself.
But he knew that the "Men of light" had no need of him.

Arriving on the other bank, he saluted them one last time then left.
Rahan will never forget that he too was a “Spirit-of-the-night”!
But why? Why?
In these fierce times, nature preserved its secrets!
It was only tens of thousands of years later that man would discover phosphor, and its properties.

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