Why are you here? "I am a criminal. This is my sentence."

What was your crime? "My people were conquered. Our new 'Governor', he had a son. The son chose five boys my age from my village, because he wished to 'spar'. By 'spar', they meant 'let him win, allow him to savage you without complaint, praise his bravery'. And I... won.

"And so, for this 'insult', here I am. It was this or my whole village burned 'for my insolence'."

Isha Thani is not, strictly speaking, here to "win" so much as "serve out his sentence, so his people don't suffer." His sentence is to continue to fight until he dies and he has resigned himself to this. Escaping will not help his village. Too many can't fight- the old, small children. They'll just be killed, and the village burned. Just one village, after all. Spectacular victories, he has already been told, will only save face for the Governor's son, since that would mean he 'was only bested by an Arena champion'. He does not, as a mere villager, have enough status to challenge the Governor or any of his household to a duel. ("It would be like a draft animal claiming an affair of honor.")


What happens when you fight a man with nothing left to lose?