There are many great speeches, made by some of the greatest leaders of this and past generations, that history will always remember. These were speeches made at times of great turmoil, unrelenting conflict and glorious celebration. Martin Luther King at the Lincoln Memorial; President Franklin D. Roosevelt after the attack at Pearl Harbor; and President Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address just to name a few.

There have also been many great speeches in pop culture, from books, movies and the like. I will always remember the speech actor Bill Pullman made in Independence Day for its emotion and inspiration; or the speech by King Theodin before the charge of the Rohirrim at Gondor in Return of the King for its brevity yet fiery passion.

I knew that to inspire the army of Avalon, outnumbered in its fight against the forces of Morgana le Fay, the Gil-Gamesh needed such a speech. Here is that speech in an excerpt from The Dark Tides.

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The Gil-Gamesh looked around and was amazed at what he saw; an army of all the races of Avalon, together as one. This was his last chance to say anything before the battle began. He climbed up on a large rock formation just off to the side so he could address everyone. “Vox Vocis!” he chanted, using magic to project his voice.

“Avalon! Hear me Avalon!” he shouted. “I know what you are feeling! I know when you look across the field of battle, you will look into the eyes of death and fear will fill your heart! But we must take our fears and put them aside, for you are not fighting for a track of land or against an enemy invader … You are fighting for our very lives; for our right to exist!

“Morgana le Fay doesn’t want to just conquer us; she wants to destroy us! She wants to rule Avalon from atop a mountain of the dead. She wants to unleash the Dark Tides to destroy all magic except for her own. She has nothing to lose and everything to gain while we have everything to lose.

“Look around you my friends and what do you see? Humans and Elves, Dwarves and Jotunn, Dragons and Centaurs, all standing together like never before. From majestic New Camelot to the rolling fields of Eldonshire and the vaulted shores of the North Highlands; from the shining coast of South Essex, Eastward toward noble Nottinghamshire, from Merlin’s Pinnacle and the mighty Fenris Mountains to the distant islands of Togo and Emmyr; we stand united in our love for our home and for our people and no one … NO ONE can destroy that!”

The masses cheered loudly, inspired by the Gil-Gamesh’s rousing speech.

“We are all that stands between Morgana le Fay and total victory and I say to you now my brothers and sisters, we will not let her have that victory! We will meet evil on the field of battle and beat them back with sword and shield, with might and magic, with honor and justice. She will know that we are Avalon! Now I say to you, come with me and stand by my side so together, we can fight! We fight for our King! We fight for our country! We fight for our families! We fight so that the evil of Morgana le Fay ends today! We fight for Avalon!”

The army sent up another rousing cheer as the Gil-Gamesh got down from the rock and moved back to his position in the front.

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The Dark Tides is now available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iUniverse.