Rahan. Episode Eighty-One. By Roger Lecureux. The Demon of Straw. A Puke (TM) Comic.

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

Rahan.

The son of the ferocious ages.

Episode Eighty-One.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The Demon of Straw.

Rahan lied to us!
He has not the mastery of water!
He did not defeat the "Drought Demon!
He is a Demon himself!

Cornered against the bamboo partition, the son of Crao saw three men brandishing their slate-tipped spears.

Schlak! Schlak! Schrong!
The clan’s clamor resounded.
The spears had been thrown with such violence that they had passed through the body of the "Demon". From side to side!

Page Two.

It all started at dawn with a light rain.
The “tears of heaven” will cause Rahan’s fish to rot.
He will have to eat it right away!

Despite the short downpour, the fish flesh was still dry.
Rahan understood that this was due to the arrangement of the scales.

The “Tears of Heaven” slide from one to the other without crossing them!

He observed the scales superimposed like tiny shields.
When hostile laughter broke out.
A few spears whistled, which he narrowly avoided.
Death to the intruder! Death!

Since the "Hot Season", this territory is ours!
Death to those who violate it!

Page Three.

Rahan is the friend of all “Those who stand upright”!
No territory is forbidden to him!
Ugart will take your life!

His opponent was robust but fought clumsily.
Rahan could have drawn his knife, but he refused.

What, what is this strange weapon?
It will kill you!
The man was brandishing a curious flat, black, flaky slate stone.

The son of Crao parried the blow.
And the man did not have time to deliver a second one.
Schrof!

Ra-ha-ha!
Cr-crack!
The big dry fish whipped Ugart's face.

Page Four.

Ha-ha-ha!
If Ugart likes fish, Rahan gives him his!
Black-tipped spears fluttered towards Rahan, who was already rushing into the scree.

More wet than bruised, Ugart threatened.
You will not go far, "Fire hair"! We will find you!

After the rain, it was scorching hot again.
No plants grew in the gorge where the son of fierce ages fled!

No hunter can live in such territory! Oh.
A village like no one had ever seen had just appeared.

The huts were made of large flat slabs.
Flaky, like the tips of the spears of the hunters he had fled from a moment earlier.
It is abandoned!

Page Five.

A straw mannequin was hung at the entrance to the largest hut.
The totem of the clan, without doubt?

As he entered, disturbing whistles rose from the darkness.
The hut was infested with serpents!
Decapitating the most threatening reptile, he threw himself backwards.
Rahan should have known.

That only snakes can live on such dry land!
Everything around was nothing but sand and rock.

However, at the bottom of the gorge, palm trees and bamboo surrounded the thin waterfall that flowed from the mountain.
Why does the water not flow here?

Page Six.

A moment later, Rahan understood the aridness of this territory.
The waterfall fell into a bottomless abyss!

And this water, so precious, is lost forever to “Those-who-walk-upright”!
While he was thinking about the clan, it reappeared, Ugart at the head.
I knew you would not get far, “Hair of Fire”!

Again slate-tipped spears whistled.
Once again, the son of Crao avoided them.

Rahan is surrounded!
He only has one chance left!
This abyss was a precarious refuge, but he no longer had a choice!
A spear brushed against him.

Page Seven.

And he huddled on a ledge.
He was out of range of the spears.
But, at the slightest wrong move.

It would be a fall into the void, into nothingness!
The sound of the waterfall was getting louder.

If the waterfall grows bigger, Rahan will be swept away!
The son of Crao perceived the threats from Ugart and his people.

May this water that the “Demon of the Drought” refuses us carry you away, “Fire-Hair”!

Rahan understands why you abandon your territory during the “hot season”!
It is too dry, too arid!
But you could make it livable with this water that the mountain so generously offers you!

Page Eight.

Rahan remembered how, once, he had channeled a spring with a bamboo aqueduct.

It is possible to make the waterfall flow into the gorge!
If you spare Rahan, he will prove it to you!

You are a fool! Or you use a ruse to escape us!
But Ugart accepts.
If you achieve what you promise, you will be free!

But if you lied to us or if you fail, the men will treat you like they sometimes treat the "Demon of the Drought"!

Men in the distance were cursing and hitting the straw mannequin.
It is therefore not a totem.
But a representation of drought!

Page Nine.

Shortly after, closely observed, Rahan gave orders and advice.
A large platform of assembled half-bamboos quickly took shape.

Throwing this aqueduct bridge across the abyss was difficult and dangerous.
But they succeeded.
Rahan lied!
Water still falls into the abyss!

The bamboos, poorly juxtaposed, let water escape through countless cracks.
And very little flowed down the channels.
Rahan knows how to do it!

The ingenious Rahan had already found the solution.
Other half-bamboos were placed in such a way on top of the first ones that they formed a gutter.

A clamor of joy arose.
The water from the waterfall, which was constantly growing, surged over the aqueduct.

Page Ten.

But suddenly, under the violence of the falling water, the platform broke and disappeared into the abyss.
Rahan lied to us!
He cannot master water!

He is a demon himself!
Show him what fate awaits him!
Three men were already throwing their spears.

Whose slate points passed through the straw mannequin, nailing it to the bamboo partition, a step away from Rahan!

You will die this way, “Hair of Fire”!
No, Rahan will succeed!
We will throw a stronger bridge over the waterfall!

The flat stones will resist the waterfall!
The son of Crao pointed to the huts.

Page Eleven.

The task, this time, was even more difficult, more perilous.
Palm tree trunks were thrown across the chasm beneath the waterfall.

On these trunks were placed large slabs of slate.
You will not tame the waterfall, Rahan!
It is still escaping you!

Rahan keenly observed the water escaping between the slabs.
What to do?
What could he do to retain this water?

And suddenly.
Fish! Tears from heaven!
He saw again the rain sliding on the fish's scales.

Enthusiastically, he arranged the slabs like the scales.
Like this! You have to place the flat stones like this!
Do like Rahan!

Page Twelve.

An ovation soon arose.
The waterfall surged over the slate bridge and the water, without any loss, spread into the gorge.
The clan will no longer fear the “Hot Season”!

Rahan was Right!
He defeated the “Drought-Demon”!
But. But.
What are you doing?
Rahan brandished his knife of ivory.

This one went to stick itself in the straw mannequin, above the three spears, right at the place of the "Heart."
Schlock!

Rahan is happy to contribute to the death of the "Demon!”
The son of fierce ages believed more in the efforts of men than in exorcisms of this kind.

He had participated in this to gain the trust of the clan.
But it was superfluous.
The grateful smile of Ugart, who brought him the ivory cutlass, proved it.