Pulling out Wind's Wrath from the dead man's skull, Rashir charged. Cutting down any enemy soldier in his path, he made his way to the front. The lifesinger fought with a remarkable display of strength and agility, beheading and dismembering armored swordsmen, while evading being surrounded and shouting orders at the same time. The voice sounded fairly feminine. Not a decade ago, that would have been a problem since Rashir's moral code prevented him from killing women. But during his years serving the Dreamsinger, he learned the hard way to overrule that code, especially if the woman was a lifesinger.
"Valiant One!" he called her, using the Cerhin honorific to get her attention, "I challenge you to a duel!"
The melee halted for a moment, all eyes turning to him. The lifesinger drew the swordstaff which she had impaled in a soldier's armpit, one of the few chinks in the bronze breastplate worn by Rashir's men.
"Kill him!" she ordered, "I want every archer we have to fire at that man."
Archers, armed with large curved bows, stood at the northern slopes to take down runners who tried to escape north. They shifted their aims in Rashir's direction. Given the size of their bow's, Rashir assumed the draw time to be considerably long and dashed at the lifesinger with his weapon in reversed grip.
It seemed that she had anticipated this, since she parried the cudgel's heavy blow with ease. However, Rashir was sure he heard a splintering sound, from the wooden handle for the lifesinger's swordstaff.
Not wasting time, she thrust forward the wickedly pointed blade. Rashir, trying not to increase the distance between them, swept sideways and swung Wind's Wrath aiming at the neck. She instinctively jumped back, extending her polearm forward into a thrust and morphing it into an upward slash.
Rashir slides to the side, barely dodging the strike. This was what he feared, the lifesinger had the advantage of her weapon's reach which was almost as long as her militia's pike.
"You refused my challenge." Rashir said with a fake breathlessness, "What happened the sense of honor you Cerhin boast about?"
"Our honor is reserved for men," she growled furiously, plunging in for a thrust, "Demons like you don't deserve it!"
Rashir evaded the strike with his weapon, though it did manage to land a slight cut. It healed as he spoke again. "You call us demons. Yet, you yourself show no restraint in killing. How are we different?"
"You dare compare us!" The lifesinger initiated a barrage of thrusts and slashes, which Rashir struggled to block with Wind's Wrath, "You demons killed my son, killed my parents, burned my home when you 'harvested' Deccina! You dare speak of restraint!"
Rashir was almost tempted to say that he did oppose the idea the wiping out a couple of cities from the map, since it was a stupid-ass move as anyone sensible would agree. However, he doubted telling that to the lifesinger would do any good. What was done was done and his ideology did not change his people's past actions. Hence, there was no other option but to fight.