Chapter 179

Nikos and Michalis fell to the ground. Nikos did a somesault letting go of his net. He smoothly got to his feet, and ran back to grab the net. Michalis had not been expecting the push and fell to the ground flat on his feet, but rolled his ankle. He quickly sat up his backside and grabbed the injured ankle. "Oh no! That does not bode well for him!" The King commented. His excitement was evident. He was clearly a very different person from the cold calculating man that Amaris had talked to not five minutes ago in the small room behind the throne. Amaris' eyes were pulled back to the arena by a sudden movement. The boar had started moving. It was running and destroying everything in it's path. It rammed into the columns in the center of the arena, and sent broken stone pieces flying in the air. Most landed in the arena, a couple smaller ones actually flew right out of the ring. Nikos took off and sprinted straight through the center of the arena dodging the broken columns and falling rocks to get to his injured brother. He slide to a stop on his knees dropping his net as he took a quick look at Michalis' ankle. Then he helped him to his feet. Nikos bent down and grabbed both nets in one hand and helped his brother move to the top of some hay bails as the boar came barrelling through the side where his brother had just been sitting. Nikos took the two nets and started running to one side of the arena. The boar was at the far end but moving in his direction. Nikos picked a spot admid several bushes and shook out his net to stand his ground. He grabbed his brother's net and layed it on the ground in the middle of the path so that the boar would run over the top of it in hopes that it would tangle in his feet. Nikos set his feet and held his net at the ready next to his brother's net. The boar came around the arena and started toward the bushes. As it ran it lifted it's nose and sniffed the air. At the last minute it took a hard right and ran around the outside of the bushes and then came around Nikos from behind him. Nikos heard the beast before he saw it and jumped into the bush just in time, but not without one of the tusks scraping down his ribs. Nikos rolled out of the bush on the other side and ran to the top of a large pile of rocks. The boar had spun back around and tried to go back through the bush where he had landed. As he stood there watching where the boar was moving to next, Amaris could see that he was bleeding profusely. The side of his shirt and the top of his pants were already soaked with blood. The boar had run by the bales of hay that Michalis was sitting on top of and the boar came to a skidding halt and raised his nose into the air to try and catch the scent. Nikos saw this and jumped down off the rocks that he was on and ran in the direction of the hay bales. He was yelling out "Here piggy piggy piggy!" Amaris would have laughed at the hilarious way that it sounded if it weren't for the fact that he was doing it to draw the pig to him and away from his brother so the pig did not gore and trample him. The pig made a loud snorting squeel and then threw his head. His tusk went into the side of the hay bales. It tossed them sideways sending Michalis rolling off the other side. The boar came around the mound but found that the bales had landed on top of Michalis when he hit the ground and the boar would have to move the bales to get to him. Nikos could see this and yelled out to Michalis to stay still and not move. As Nikos moved closer to where the animal was standing, Amaris could see how massive it truely was. The boar stood as tall as Nikos and was and was four times as long. Nikos started calling out to it to get it's attention. At first the boar paid no attention to him and began batting some of the bales away with it's tusks. Nikos moved closer and called again still nothing. The boar had now moved one of the bales that was covering Michalis' leg. Nikos looked around him desperate. There was a piece of debris from the wrecked columns on the ground nearby. Nikos ran over and grabbed it up and threw it as hard as he could at the boar. It hit him in the back of the head and this time Nikos got his attention. The boar whirled around and snorted at him. It was at that moment that Nikos realized how close he really was to the boar. There was no more than ten feet between the two. The boars pawed the ground and threw his head. Nikos took a stance and stared down the boar. He was determined to stand his ground with this animal. Amaris could see what was about to happen and stood up from her seat. She covered her mouth. Many in the watching crowd were calling out for him to run. Nikos being the determined man that he was stayed in place. He did not have either of the nets in his hands. A hush fell over the two groups of prisoners as they watched the stand off. The vampires growled and jeered at Nikos to try and get him to move. Amaris watched as Michalis got to his feet behind the boar. He had a large piece of rubble in his hand. Nikos' eyes left the boars for only a moment to meet Michalis'. That was when the boar decided to strike. As the boar began to move Michalis hurled the rubble with all his might at the boar and then turned and started to ahlf limp half run as fast as he could move. He ran to the pile of fallen collumns in the center of the ring and layed down between two that were close together. The boar had jumped when the large chunk of rubble hit his rump and spun on the spot. Nikos took the moment of distraction and bolted toward the cluster of small trees and bushes. The boar spun back to find Nikos gone and bellowed in frustration. It spun around in a circle and seeing no one, galloped off around the outside edge of the arena destroying everything in its path as it went through. Nikos took the opportunity to move over to where Michalis lay hidden. He jumped in with him and started talking frantically. The both sank low as the boar ran by their hiding place. It went by at such a speed that it did not even notice them. Amaris breathed a sigh of relief when the boar went by. If it had found them both in the same hiding spot it could have been disastrous. After the boar ran by and started to make the turn around the ring. They could no longer see each other because of the trees and bushes that were placed in clumps around the end and side. The two men moved quickly and silently to where the nets had fallen to the ground. Moving quickly the each took part of the end apart while they hunkered down in the bushes as the boar once again ran right by them. The boar had worked it self into a frenzy now and was just running as fast as it could around the outside of the arena. This was good and bad for the brothers. It meant that it was not paying attention to them, but it also meant that they had less time between each revolution of the boar, and who knows when it would snap out of its frenzy. As Amaris watched, the twins used the untwined rope to fasten the nets to trees that they had bent downward. Then Michalis got into the bushes as Nikos stood near the end of the nets with another piece of rubble in his hand. The boar was at the far end of the arena. It turned the end of the circle and charged up the side. Nikos waited until it was halfway, and then threw the rubble at the huge beast. It slid to a stop, having been brought out of its wild run. The boar's eyes focused in on Nikos and it charged at him. Nikos stood his ground once again and waited. The boar barrelled through everything in his way. Nikos still waited. Everyone watching waited. The boar came nearer and nearer still and yet Nikos did not move. Just as the boar reached Nikos, he yelled out "Now!"