Rahan. Episode Seventy Four. By Roger Lecureux. The Worshipers of the Dead. A Puke (TM) Comic.

Rahan.

Index:
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Episode Seventy Four.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The Worshipers of the Dead.

The son of Crao knew how "Those Who Walk Upright" end up, after having reached the territory of shadows.
But this skull that he saw amazed him to such an extent that he forgot the cruel horde that had been stalking him since dawn.

As he climbed the steps cut into the rock, his amazement grew.
This. This.
Is not possible!
Rahan must dream!

No! No! Hunters of this size do not exist! They cannot exist!

But the proof was there!
This skull that glowed under the moon had belonged to a gigantic, fantastic being!

Page Two.

This skull, which dominated the gorge as if from the top of an altar, seemed to prohibit access to the cliff.
It was so big that a man could have entered it through the eye sockets!
No! No! It is impossible!

Rahan knew how to control his apprehensions and fears.
He approached and.
Oh! Rahan was right to doubt!
The skull was not made of bone, but carved from a chalky rock.

As he made this astonishing observation, clamors arose.
Profanation! The enemy dared to lay his sacrilegious hands on death!

Page Three.

Rahan is not an enemy!
It was to flee those of the cruel horde that he came to your territory!

Shtok! Chotk! Shtok!
A rain of stones fell on the son of fierce ages.

Who jumped towards the skull, and hoisted himself towards the orbit.
The rain of stones stopped immediately.

You have just committed the most heinous sacrilege, “Hair of Fire”!
The men remained at a distance, as if petrified by this new desecration.

It was the fathers of the fathers of our fathers who, in the dawn of time, paid this homage to death!
And no man has ever defiled the Queen of Shadows!
We will not kill you because you are not worthy of death!

Page Four.

But we will not let you run away!
When hunger and thirst deliver you to us, you will be tortured every day, until the leafless season!

The clan surrounded his strange refuge without daring to approach it.
They revere this totem too much to throw their stones!
But Rahan will not be able to escape!

We will watch around the queen of shadows day and night "Hair of Fire" and you will have to surrender sooner or later and pay for your sacrifice!

Usually Rahan respects the customs of “Those-who-walk-upright”!
But he finds yours very stupid!
Because you have to be stupid to worship death!

Death!
Death that has pursued Rahan since dawn!

The son of Crao pointed out the few men of the cruel horde who climbed the monumental stone staircase.

Page Five.

We captured "Fire hair", but he escaped!
Deliver him to us!

Worried, those on the cliff retreated towards their cave.
But the chief and the sorcerer faced the newcomers.
"Fire hair" belongs to us!
Our clan will punish his sacrilege!

He is ours!
And we will bring him back to ours!
Men from the cruel horde were already rushing towards the skull-totem.

Although unarmed, the chief and the sorcerer tried to oppose the others.
In vain.
Argh!

Kroan and Laiyar will join you, queen of shadows.
They.
They.
Will be.
Soon near you!
They. They are happy. Happy.
Page Six.

Appalled by the useless sacrifice of the two men, Rahan stood his ground.
Stealing the life of a disarmed opponent.
Is worthy of the Cruel clan!
Zlanc!

But you will not steal Rahan's!
Argh!

Braced in the orbit, the son of Crao fiercely resisted his attackers.
Crack!

And he parried all of their blows with surprising reflexes and vivacity.
Argh!
Go back to your own!

Striking with his fist, his foot, or his knee, he was unassailable.
Ra-ha-ha!

Page Seven.

Advance! Let us chase away this sacrilege!

More angered by the outrageous desecration of the queen of shadows than by the death of their leaders.
The men on the cliff finally reacted!
Those of the cruel horde had to flee under their projectiles.

We will come back!
We will wipe out your clan!
We will kill all of you, your women and your children!

It was only a reprieve for Rahan.
Those on the cliff once again surrounded the queen of shadows!
They gave themselves a new leader.

Yako vows to loyally guide the clan, until the day death calls him on.

To the happy territory of shadows!

Page Eight.

No one is ever kept from this territory, brothers!
Because death continues until the end of time!
It is not death that must be venerated but life!

Life is the sun!
Forests! The rivers!
Why do you prefer darkness to all these wonders?
For a very long time the son of Crao harangued these hunters, who had never heard such words.

The young people were more sensitive to his arguments than the old ones.
See. Rahan has “Outraged” “the queen-of-shadows” but he is still alive!
He wants to be alive!

The tree does not uproot itself!
The animal does not throw itself away.
Under the Hunters spear!
Everything that is alive repels death!
Why did “Those Who Walk Upright” search for it?

Your life is sacred, brothers! You must not offer it to these savages, as did Kroan and Laiyar!
“Those-of-the-Cruel-Horde,” ten times more numerous, had just reappeared!

Page Nine.

They rushed towards the staircase, the only way of access to the cliff.
Until today, they were content to ban us from the game-filled valley.

But today because we did not deliver "Fire hair" to them, they want to decimate our clan!

These beings are the cruelest that Rahan has ever encountered!
You are defenseless in front of them and they will massacre you if you do not flee!

We will not run away! We will repel them!
So, let Rahan fight alongside you!
Oh! No! Do not do that!

Yako and a few elders, armed with simple sticks, were rushing down the stairs that those of the cruel horde were beginning to climb!
This disregard for their lives was going to be fatal to them.

Page Ten.

They collapsed under the arrows.
It was not bravery, but madness! They gave their lives needlessly!

The young hunters no longer cared about the son of Crao.
They reacted finally!
“Fire hair” is right! We are too young to join the Queen of Shadows!
We must be alive!
Alive!

You are alive brothers!
Under the deluge of stones, the cruel horde flowed back.

But those on the cliff soon ran out of projectiles!
And the attackers invaded the staircase for a new assault!

No more stones!
No more Rocks!
We will not push them away!
Yes!
You still have the queen of shadows! Help Rahan!

Page Eleven.

Setting an example, the son of fierce ages arched his back against the enormous skull-totem.
The elders cried out.
Sacrilege!
Sacrilege!

But all the young people rushed forward, and gathered around Rahan, and pushed, and pushed.
So many of us have sacrificed their lives to the Queen of Shadows! She must help us!

The chalk skull slid slowly towards the staircase which those of the cruel horde were climbing.

Oh!
And they suddenly saw it silhouetted against the sky, oscillating for a moment, to fall over!

Argh!
They did not have time to flee. The skull swept over them, crushing or bruising some, throwing others into the void!

Page Twelve.

Their cries of fear and pain were drowned out by a terrible noise.
The gigantic skull had just burst open at the foot of the cliff.
Crash!

They would have cut our throats without mercy!
But they will not come back!
Thanks to you, Rahan!
The survivors of the cruel horde, still terrified, fled the gorge.

Where lay the pieces of this sinister totem that the “Adorers of Death” had venerated for too long!
By sacrificing the "Queen of Shadows", you saved your clan!
You knew how to defend your lives!
You have not resigned yourself to dying and that is good!

If some elders still gave Rahan hostile looks, most of the hunters contemplated the valley, the forests, the sun, the distant river.

For the first time they seemed to appreciate the life that rustled everywhere around the waters.

The son of Crao was happy, he had helped them win this victory over themselves!