Rahan. Episode 115. By Roger Lecureux. The Necklace of Wood. A Puke (TM) Comic.

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Source of Rahan Comics:
Philippe Ropers.
https://vk.com/topic-203785966_47424128

Rahan.

The son of the ferocious ages!

Episode One hundred and fifteen.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The Necklace of Wood.

As a son of the fierce ages, Rahan was accustomed to macabre discoveries.
However, the one he made that morning outraged him.

Those who thus martyr their brothers are not worthy of the name of man!

Out of respect, he freed the skeleton from the strange straitjacket, when.
Tahar's bones must have rotted in this shell!
For having violated our law, you will die like him!

Whatever Tahar's wrongs or faults, he did not deserve such a horrible torture!
You will get the same, "Fire-Hair"!

Attacked by the wild pack, the son of Crao could neither flee nor resist.
Argh!

Page Two.

He only regained his senses much later, in a cave. The heavy yoke crushed his shoulders.
Ha-ha-ha! Your eyes will never see the sun again, "Hair of Fire"!

You will die in this cave!
And do not hope, do not hope to escape!
No one has ever been able to rid themselves of the “Necklace of Wood”!

And we are so sure of it that we even left you your knife!
Rahan could indeed feel his weapon on his hip.
But the ivory knife would be of no use to him!

Soon all the hunters disappeared through the narrow entrance to the cave.
Rahan will live! Rahan will not join the "Territory of the Shadows"!

The son of Crao tried desperately to free his hands.
But his bonds were too firmly tied.

If Rahan can get out of the cave he will find a sharp rock.
The long yoke hampered all his movements. But he managed to straighten up.

Page Three.

And he had to contort himself to get into the entrance of the cave.
Getting out of this one was painful.
But the silence that told him that the clan had left the place encouraged him.

He was finally standing up in broad daylight when.
By staying in the cave you would have lived a few hours longer!
But then you chose to die in the camp.

The assault of the two hunters, who were alone, was immediately broken.
Argh!

You did not really think Rahan would let his skull be smashed in without reacting!
Whah!

A moment later, the son of Crao was wandering, searching for a sharp rock to cut.
The branches that encircled his neck and wrists.

Were heavy.
And he could see, all the way to the forest, only round, polished pebbles.

Page Four.

Oh. Anyway, Rahan would not have had time to cut the vines!
The clan had just reappeared on a nearby hill!

The forest! It is Rahan's only chance to escape these savages!

Weighed down and hamstrung in his race by the "Necklace of Wood", Rahan heard the cries of the men who had chased him.

Haunted by the vision of Tahar's skeleton, he reached the forest.
Rahan does not want to die like Tahar! He wants to live! To live!

But his ordeal was only just beginning. The long collar banged against the trees.
Rahan must flee like the "Crabs"!

He had to run sideways to slip between the countless obstacles!
Argh!

Page Five.

The wooden collar sometimes got tangled in the vines and he lost precious seconds freeing it.
But.
Have the hunters given up the chase?

Indeed, the screams had stopped.
Like many others, these hunters fear the night!

But at daybreak, they will start looking for Rahan again!
Rahan must take advantage of the night to flee this territory!

The son of Crao tried again to get rid of the "Wooden Necklace."
All his attempts were unsuccessful!
It is impossible to break the vines!

If Rahan wants to increase his lead over these savages, he must waste no more time!
Resigning himself to bearing the heavy burden, he resumed his difficult course.

Embarrassed by the yoke, the son of the fierce ages did not see the branches which concealed a trap!
Argh!

Page Six.

He felt as if his head and hands were being torn off.
And it was a miracle.
The wooden collar held him in the void, above the stakes!

But the collar only protruded from the trap by a few centimeters.
At the slightest false movement he would impale himself on the sharp points.

He threw his legs out, though. His heels gripped the edge of the trap. Then.

With small jolts, he slowly, very slowly brought his body back.
And he collapsed as soon as he.

Was out of danger.
Anxiety and tension added to physical exhaustion.

Obsessed by the idea of dying like Tahar, in this infernal trap, he could not sleep.
But his muscles rested a little.
To live! Rahan wants to live!

At the first light of dawn he set off again, searching in vain for a rock with sharp edges.
Page Seven.

He had not passed through a hundred openings in the thorns when barbaric clamors resounded.
This time, Rahan will not escape them!

Unless.
Unless these savages do not know how to "Crawl on water"!
Staggering under the weight of the burden he hurried towards the lake he had just discovered.

His pursuers were only a hundred paces away when.
What.
That "Fire-Hair" has lost his mind!

As the son of Crao had predicted the yoke kept him afloat.
Quick leg movements pulled him away from the bank. From where.

The men of the clan were now shooting arrows furiously.
Kill!
Kill this demon who dares to violate the territory of the fish!

Free from the shackles, Rahan would have easily avoided these arrows.
When he saw what was coming towards him here he could only hope!

Page Eight.

The arrows fell further and further from him. He was finally out of reach! But.
Ra-ha-ha!

Another danger already threatened him!
With this cursed "Wooden-Collar", Rahan will not be able to compete in speed with the "Wood-Skins"!

The "Woodskins" do not like white water!
Propelling himself with his legs, Rahan headed towards the river that fed the lake.
But he was going slowly, and the crocodiles were getting dangerously close.

Courage Rahan! One more effort!

The current of the river suddenly sucked at the yoke.
Ra-ha-ha!

You will have to find another prey, "wood skins"!

The son of Crao never knew that one of the sauriens, swimming between two waters, had nearly attacked his legs.

Page Nine.

The crocodiles stopped at the edge of the flowing water, as it carried the yoke away faster and faster.

It was impossible to resist this impetuous current, impossible to reach the shore.

And the "Wooden Collar" which sometimes hit the exposed rocks made this slide even more painful, even more terrible!

And Suddenly!
Rahan heard the falls roar.
Farewell, sun! Farewell life! Your son will join you, Crao!

"Those-who-walk-upright" will one day find his bones lying on a beach.
As Rahan found those of Tahar!

The haunting vision disappeared.
And.
Gave way to that of the abyss now very close! The crash became deafening.

Argh!

Page Ten.

Once again the son of Crao thought his head and hands were being torn off.
The shock under the neck was such that he lost consciousness for a moment.
Argh!

The wooden collar held by two projections, kept him suspended against the wall of water! This reprieve was as painful as it was futile.

As the shell slid slowly over the foam of the projections!
In a few seconds he would be thrown into the eddies that roared beneath him!
And suddenly.

It was hell!
A liquid hell of whirlpools, of evaporation and steam.
The enormous eddies fought over the unconscious man, swallowing him up.

Ten times the son of the fierce ages was dragged into the depths.
Ten times the yoke brought him back to the surface.

Page Eleven.

This wooden necklace to which he owed so much suffering was perhaps going to save him!

A strong wave suddenly tore the yoke from the eddies and threw it towards a beach.

And Rahan, half unconscious, did not even feel this wave retreat, leaving him on the shore.
Life, life, life.

He managed to chase away the vision of Tahar which haunted him again, but others assailed him.

His escape into the forest. The trap. The "Woodskins," the river. The falls.
With his eyes closed he relived the phases of the frightful torture of the pillory.
This pillory which always bruised his wrists and his neck.

Page Twelve.

As he half opened his eyelids he saw some rocks sparkling.
And he shouted with joy.
Ra-ha-ha!

You will no longer crush Rahan's shoulders, "Necklace of wood"!
The son of Crao knew the marvelous power of these rocks, transparent like spring water.

Thanks to them he had discovered, long ago, how to use the sun to light a fire.

He turned to the quartz block. The sun shining through the rock cast a small, dazzling light on the ground.

The light burnt him when he presented his wrist to it.
But the bite of the fire gave him hope again.

He waited, adjusting the vine under the rays of the quartz.
If Rahan does not succeed today he will succeed tomorrow!

Page thirteen.

He knew that setting fire to this solid waterlogged vine would take a long time, a very long time.
When the sun moved, the dazzling spot moved too.

And he had to gradually move the yoke.
Smoke rose from the slowly drying vine.

The night will be hard again for Rahan!
The sun was about to disappear behind the ridge without its rays having damaged the vine.

But what did Rahan care about his bruised muscles now? And his aching limbs!
He knew he would not know Tahar's horrible end!

The next day, as soon as the sun was shining, he patiently began his maneuver again.
And the vine, this time.
Crackle! The fibers glowed.
They burned very slowly, like a bracelet of fire.

And suddenly. Ra-ha-ha!

Page Fourteen.

With one hand freed, it was easy for the son of the fierce ages to draw his knife to free the other.

But he could not reach the vines tied to the ends of the "Wooden Necklace", but breaking these last shackles was now just a game.
He could finally do what he wanted.

After two days and two nights.
He stuck his knife in the crack of a rock!

The ivory blade cut into the vine.
It only took a few shears to break it! The clasp of the "Collar of wood" loosened.

Rahan was finally free!
Ra-ha-ha!

Never had his cry of victory expressed such joy!

He looked at the pillory. He thought of those hunters who had tortured him.

Page Fifteen.

Savagely, cruelly, he felt a feeling welling up within him that he had never known.
That of vengeance!

No! Crao would not have liked his son to think such things!
Rahan will not take revenge! The “Wild Men" Deserve only his contempt!

Soon after, what had been a terrible object of torture became the framework of a light but solid raft.

For once, Rahan had met hunters without staying among them.
Without passing on any of his wisdom and knowledge to them.

Throughout these two days and two nights of anguish and suffering he had struggled to live.
To survive!
But, in these fierce times, the life of "Those-who-walk-upright" was constantly threatened.

Rahan knew that many perils still awaited him.
But he did not want to think about it, happy as he was to sail towards an unknown territory.

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