Rahan. Episode Eighty-Nine. By Roger Lecureux. The Thing That Stretches. A Puke (TM) Comic.

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

Rahan.

Episode Eighty-Nine.

By Roger Lecureux, drawn by Andre Cheret.

The Thing That Stretches.

The son of Crao was watching the vapors stretching across the surface of the hot spring when he suddenly felt something crawling up his legs.
If Rahan makes the slightest movement he is lost!

He had guessed a tarantula!
Holding his breath, he felt the spider crawl towards his back.

He knew the sting of this beast was deadly.
Do not move!
Above all, do not move!

The hairy paws clung to his shoulder, moved for a moment behind his neck.

Page Two.

And the tarantula, suddenly disdaining this inert object, swooped down his arm, and buried itself in the grass.

With his heart still thumping, the son of Crao saw it heading towards a tree.
His fear had been so strong that he had an angry reaction.

Hunters will no longer have to fear your venom, damned creature!
The ivory blade burst from the lizard sheath, flew towards the tree.

Sclock!
Rahan's skill was such that his weapon nailed the disgusting beast to its trunk.

An instant later, he recovered his knife.
Oh!
The tree is bleeding!
From the incision made by the blade flowed a thick, whitish liquid.

Page Three.

This “Blood” was not comparable to the resin he knew well.
Intrigued, he cut the nearest trunks.

And the same phenomenon occurred.
All these trees are bleeding.
Rahan has gotten lost in a “Forest that bleeds!”

He was cutting a new trunk when his sense of smell alerted him to danger.
Crouching on a low branch, a panther gathered up to jump.

Rahan does not fear you!
It was with the tail of one of your sisters that he once made a sheath for his cutlass.
Every time fate put him face to face with a black panther, the son of Crao remembered this sheath.

So, “Baghae”!
What are you waiting for to attack?
Would you fear for your tail?!
Rahan backed away without taking his eyes off the beast.

Page Four.

Rahan is ready he.
Oh!
Stumbling against a root he lost his balance at the very moment when the panther sprung!

A sharp swipe of his paw tore his cutlass away.
Another tackled him to the ground.

Accustomed to these close encounters, he knew that, without a weapon, his only chance was to suffocate the beast.
His hands gripped the throat.

When the panther broke away from the embrace, and reared up suddenly.

Oh!
The beast had just collapsed near him.
He saw the fine dart that had shot him.

Page Five.

And men immediately appeared.
Rahan thanks you for coming to his aid, brothers!
The son of Crao was going to pick up his knife.

But a dart stopped his gesture.
Do not touch that weapon!

We saved you because we want to bring you back to Torua alive!
Only he can decide your fate!
The blowguns were pointed towards Rahan.
Resisting would have been stupid.

Why do you treat Rahan as an enemy!?
Because you killed the sacred ficus!
See! They are losing their blood!
The man pointed out indignantly the trees with incisions on their bark.

Rahan was taken to a curious village.
Women with armed with long poles guarded a pit where snakes were swarming.
These cobras are precious! It is their venom!
Which makes our darts so formidable!
Perhaps Taurua will order you to be handed over to the cobras!
Page Six.

Rahan appeared before the chief.
We saw this hunter strike the "Ficus" with this weapon!
Sacrilege! No one has ever shed the blood of a “Ficus”!
If they die, you will die too!

Trees do not die like this, Torua!
Rahan only slightly injured them.
They will heal!
Hope for it!
If Tomorrow the Ficus trees are still bleeding, we will take your life!

A little later.
The trees will heal, but when?
Maybe they will bleed again tomorrow?
Rahan must escape before daylight!

Confronting the two men who were guarding the entrance to the hut was unthinkable.
Their poisonous darts would have struck him down!

But if Rahan knows how to climb silently he can escape through the roof!
Strong bamboos supported the thatched roof.

Page Seven.

And it was easy for him to climb up to it.
He spread the straw when a piece of timber fell!
Oh! The noise will betray Rahan!

In fact, the men appearing in the hut saw the captive who widened his opening.
The blowguns rose again.

And the son of Crao only had time to free himself!
Darts whistled in his ears.

And he let himself slide down the roof to the ground.
When the first cry of alarm rose.

He was already leaping into the thickets.
Rahan is safe!
But he cannot escape without taking back his knife from Torua!

Page Eight.

Until dawn Rahan roamed around the outskirts of the village.
Chance brought him back to the hot spring.
The trees are healed!
They do not bleed!

At the foot of the trunks, the white blood had coagulated into a paste that seemed supple to the touch.
What a strange thing!

But which was so firm that Rahan could not knead it!
So what is the blood of Ficus made of?
Why does it get so hard?

Irritated at not being able to reshape the "Ball of Blood", he threw it onto the ground.
Maybe you will break!

And the astonishment froze him.
Bouncing once, twice, three times, the ball rolled towards the hot spring!
The “Ball of blood” jumps like a “long legs”, like a frog!
So what is this thing?

Page Nine.

His astonishment grew further when he noticed that the ball, in the scalding water, was slowly deforming.

An instant later, he was bringing back the “Thing” which was stretching curiously on a branch.
It is the heat that softens the blood of ficus trees!

Torua and his people know nothing of this mystery since they have never made the ficus trees bleed!

The son of Crao was not yet at the end of his surprises.
The “Thing” now cooled, could stretch out and double in length.

But it returned to its size as soon as he stopped stretching it!
Rahan can reveal the secret of the ficus trees to Torua, in exchange for his knife!

Page Ten.

When Rahan appeared the men rushed towards the jar where they all placed their blowguns.
Wait! We have to know why he is giving himself up!

Rahan does not give himself up, Torua!
He comes back to tell you that the "Ficus" no longer bleed!
But their blood has a secret! Look at!

Torua, stunned, watched the gum lengthen, shrink, and lengthen.
Rahan will tell you the secret if you give him back his knife!

Given!
The chief had suddenly seized the “Thing” and disputed it with Rahan.
And the rubber stretched until it broke.

The son of Crao let go, and.
Argh!

Page Eleven.

Although he had been harshly scathed, the chief laughed.
Ha-ha-ha!
The thing slapped Torua!
If you do not reveal his secret, we will throw you to the cobras!

The blood of "Ficus" hardens when it dries, but it softens in scalding water!
We can then give it the shape we want.
And we get the “Thing-that-stretches”!

You Lie!
Send your people to get the dried blood of the Ficus trees and water from the hot spring!
Rahan will prove to you that he is telling the truth!

Do as he says bring back the blood and water!
We will see if he is capable of a miracle or if he just wants to win more time!

The men returned shortly afterwards with a large container of boiling water and pieces of hardened sap.
Will these hunters spare Rahan, when they know the secret?

Page Twelve.

The fate of the son of the fierce ages remained uncertain.
But an idea had come to him.
Bring the water and blood here!
You will soon be convinced that Rahan is not lying!

Under watchful eyes he stirred the sap. A paste formed which became more and more fluid.
Was Rahan not right?

Look how soft the “Thing-that-stretches” is!
It is sinking! It is sinking!
What, what are you doing!?
Suddenly raising the vat, Rahan poured the contents onto the blowpipe jar which he pretended not to see!

He wanted to pretend ignorance, to claim to have forgotten the jar.
He did not have time.
To the Cobras! To the Cobras!

Surrounded by ten men he was dragged to the snake pit!

Page thirteen.

Cobras were coiled here and there, and the man's cry brought them out of their torpor.

No! You will not kill Rahan!
Rahan was still on the ground when he had to ward off the first attack!

Ra-ha-ha!
The reptile's head burst under the stone.
But others were arriving from all sides!

You have made our blowguns unusable, but you will still perish from the venom!

With his strong lance, Torua prevented the son of Crao from grabbing the roots!
You would have wanted it, Torua!

Page Fourteen.

Rahan had just snatched the lance so suddenly that Torua lost his balance and fell into the pit.
Argh!

When he stood up, half dazed, he saw the two cobras ready to bite.
Torua will join the land of shadows with you, Rahan!

Ra-ha-ha!
The pole mowed down the reptiles with such force that they fluttered to the other end of the pit.

Get out of the pit, Torua! Now that he has this pole, Rahan has nothing to fear!

But what are you waiting for Torua!? Get out of the pit!
Striking with force and speed Rahan was able to keep the cobras at a distance.

Page Fifteen.

The Clan Chief did not understand.
Torua wanted you dead and you came to his aid!
Who are you then?
A simple hunter Torua!

As Torua climbed towards his people, an admiring clamor rose up.
The son of Crao made an extraordinary leap.
Oh!

Tore himself from the pit and fell near them.
So you could have fled the Cobras as soon as you grabbed the pole!
Why did you not do it?

Rahan wanted you to live.
And to admit that he did not lie about the stretching thing!

Look!
The soft dough spilled on the blowgun jar had disappeared!

Page Sixteen.

Where is the blood of the Ficus?
Crack!
Rahan told you that we could make the “Thing-that-Stretches” as strong as we wanted!
You will see.

A moment later Rahan extracted from the broken blowpipe a curious whitish strip, round and smooth.
The “Blood of the Ficus” flowed inside the blowguns.
As it cooled, it took on their shape!
The son of Crao was playing with the "Elastic Lanyard”.

The clan will be able to make many objects with the "Thing-that-stretches"!
The men happily fought over the blowguns.
Everyone wanted their “Magic Lanyard”!

Was it to prove this to us that you spilled the “Blood of the Ficus” on the jar?
Argh, Err.

Page Seventeen.

Rahan especially feared your poison darts!
By blocking the blowpipes, he averted this danger!

You will never have anything to fear from mine again!
They will not forget that you revealed to us the wonderful secret of the "Ficus"!
Take back your weapon, brother!

While the hunters indulged in many tricks, the son of fierce ages thought.
When you do not have soft wood, the "Thing-that-stretches" could be used to make a bow!

We would hold it like this.

Schlaf!
Argh!
The piece of blowgun actually flew away, but the pain was severe.

Page Eighteen.

Rahan needs a wooden hand! Or wooden fingers. Like these!
The pitchforks planted near the fire gave him the idea of a new weapon!
And shortly after.

Brave and generous. Ingenious and skillful.
So you only have these qualities!?
Oh No, Torua!
Rahan also has faults, like all “those-who-walk-upright”!

But perhaps his greatest quality is his curiosity!
Rahan would like to explore all the territories, to know all the clans, and to make discoveries like that of the “Ficus”!

What benefit did Torua and his people get from the “Forest that bleeds”?
The son of Crao would never know!

Because the next day he resumed his adventurous trail.
Other mysteries awaited him, beyond the horizon.
The mysteries of nature that could generate these strange trees whose sap, thousands of years later, would be called rubber.

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