That sounded about right. They'd told him more or less the same his first time... only his reply hadn't been as nice as hers.

"Wish I could tell ya that it was," he told her as his hands slowly lowered, figuring by now that if she'd meant to swing that stick, she'd have already gone and done it. "But, unfortunately, we are exactly where they want us to be."

He paused a moment, then exhaled a heavy breath, and seeing no way around it, explained, "This is the arena. They send us all in here and... only one comes out a winner."