Rand clambered up on a rock outcrop in front of the assembled army in front of him. The Ogier, the Ever Victorious Army of the Seanchan, the wolves of Perrin and Elyas Machera, and the Warmen of his lands. But before he spoke, a voice raised above the silence of the horde.
"We search for The Dragon Reborn! Where is he?"
Rand looked up. "I am the Dragon Reborn. Who are you" The crowd parted and a group of about five hundred men and women came to stand in front of Rand. The leader, a man with tattoos across his face, kneeled in front of him, hand on heart. As Rand looked, he noticed that all the other people also had tattoos across his face.
"My name is Asralt. I am leader of the Ayyad of Shara. The Sh'boan, our ruler has sent us with a message. She told me to tell you this: "We of Shara send our allegiances to you, the Dragon Reborn. For three thousand years, we have been a united country, closed off from the rest of the world, save for the trading ports on our Southern coast and the six trading towns on the Cliffs of Dawn. Now, Tarmon Gai'don is here, and we have decided that we have been secluded for too long. We swear our allegiance to you." Asralt looked up at Rand, still kneeling with his hand on heart. "Will you accept myself and my Ayyad"
Rand nodded, and they all rose. "We can all channel, my Lord Dragon, and all of us are above average in the Power. We will do anything that you ask of us. We are you servants." And with that Asralt and his followers mingled into the crowd. Rand stared to speak when everyone had settled again.
"We are facing today, the greatest battle that anyone has ever known since the battles that ended the Age of Legends. This is Tarmon Gai'don. Now, people have translated this as the Last Battle, others have translated it as the Battle that Guards. Whatever it means, this is the truth. On this day, we WILL end this war!
Some of you, I have known for most of my life. I have lived and fought alongside you many times, and each time I have done so, I have considered myself lucky to have allies like you alongside me!
Others of you, I have never fought alongside, but now, I have the honour of doing so. I wish that I could have met you all under better circumstances, but maybe after this, we can all meet again.
We will fight, and we will win! To all those who have to pay the ultimate sacrifice, I promise you that your families will be taken care of. To those who will live to fight again-won't this be a story to tell your grandchildren when we get old and fat around the camp fires"
There was a lot of laughing from around the men.
"Brothers, this may be the last time some of us meet until our threads are woven out of the Pattern. But now we march out to fight the Shadow. So, prepare."
With that, Rand stood down and met his generals at the head of his army. He shook all of the hands and nodded with them. Then he led them to the hill line where he would lead them all against the Shadow.
And Shai'tan.