- When his commitment to refrain from revenge is tested to its bloody limits by a short-fused pagan queen, the middle eastern chieftain Elijah receives in reward a commitment from God: to carry out sentence on the chieftain's enemy in accord with the mere mortal's request, a drought.—Anonymous
- Elijah, the chieftain of an ancient middle-eastern tribe, leads a party of his fellow tribesmen to spy upon the strange, nocturnal sacrifice of a pagan queen. Their cover blown, they flee from the Omrites altar horrified that the pagans are sacrificing a small baby. A fitful sleep is interrupted by a supernatural voice warning Elijah and the spies of an enemy's approach, just as a swarm of armed Omrites invade and kill, leaving only Elijah and a handful of others unscathed. In the morning, they discover the bodies of their slain kinsmen even as Elijah leads them to see a field pocked with more of the pagan altars -- altars that they tear down.
Despite the horrors, Elijah controls his temper and warns his fellows against taking revenge into their own hands. Meanwhile, the only tribesman imprisoned during the massacre is first interrogated and later drowned, at the hands of the Queen. After much pleading from his fellow survivors, Elijah finally sends a message to a mighty, unseen being called the Half-Remembered. In the palace, the same whispers as warned Elijah also afflict the soldiers and cause consternation. Word returns to Elijah from the Half-Remembered, who names Elijah as his judge and jury, so that Elijah's declaration concerning the queen and her Omrite accomplices will be guaranteed by the Half-Remembered Himself. In turn, Elijah declares a drought that shall not end until he gives the signal.
The drought inflicts suffering and death upon the entire land, and even Elijah himself suffers to the point almost of despair. Finally he and the forces of the Queen encounter each other in the foothills of a mountain. The Queen wants Elijah seized but all fear him because his word has plagued the once fruitful land with months of drought, famine, and death. Elijah now challenges the pagans to a competition of sorts against his god. Agreeing, each side calls upon its god or gods with the request to end the drought and burn the sacrifice on the altar in flames, without the touch of human hands.
After much effort, the pagans fail but Elijah's prayer triggers first a rain of fire to blast the altar and the pagan priestesses nearby and then moments later a true rain that ends the drought, but only after the Queen's forces kill Elijah's dearest mentor and force Elijah to flee, alone, across the mountainside only to hide himself inside a cave. As events on the surface lead to the downfall of the Queen and her accomplices, within the cave a series of supernatural crises remind Elijah that the pagans' immense powers are still nothing compared to the God of gods who would much prefer to whisper in a still, quiet voice than bellow and blast fire from the sky because of the obstinacy of those who shut their ears against Him, the Half-Remembered.
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