The sun bled red across the Valley of Elah as two armies stared at each other like wolves across a narrow stream. On one side, the Israelites camped on the slopes of the Judean hills, their tents flapping in the dry wind like wounded birds. Smoke from cookfires rose in thin gray columns, carrying the smell of barley bread and lentil stew. Men sharpened bronze blades on whetstones, the rhythmic scrape blending with murmured prayers and the occasional shout of a sergeant trying to keep order among boys who had never expected to see war.
