Val watched the tree line with narrowed eyes as dozens more ghouls emerged from the shadows. The sun hung low in the western sky, casting long shadows across the battlefield and making it difficult to gauge their numbers with precision. But one thing was clear, there were far more than he''d initially estimated.


    "Lian, count," Val ordered tersely.


    The young ranger scanned the advancing horde, his lips moving silently. "Eighty... no, a hundred at least. More still coming."


    Val suppressed a curse. A hundred ghouls against their forty defenders made for poor odds, even with the advantage of the wall. And now he could see the larger forms more clearly. Massive undead bears, their rotting flesh hanging from exposed ribs, eyes glowing with an unnatural blue light that betrayed the magic animating them.


    "Mara," Val called to the sergeant. "Get the archers in position. Focus on the bears first."


    The sergeant nodded sharply and began barking orders to the villagers, who scrambled to their assigned positions with a naked fear. Val couldn''t blame them. Many had never faced combat before, and now they were staring down a nightmare that most seasoned warriors would flee.


    He turned to Aric, who stood rigid beside him, bow already in hand. The young ranger''s face was pale but composed, his eyes fixed on the advancing threat.


    "Remember your training," Val said quietly. "Aim for the head. Make each arrow count."


    Aric nodded without looking away from the enemy. "I won''t let you down."


    Val clasped his shoulder briefly. "I know." He raised his voice to address all the defenders within earshot. "Hold your fire until they''re within thirty yards! We don''t have arrows to waste!"


    The ghouls advanced with deceptive speed, their shambling gait covering ground more quickly than their awkward movements suggested. Behind them, the three enormous bears lumbered forward on all fours, their matted fur crawling with maggots visible even at this distance.


    Val estimated the bears stood eight feet tall at the shoulder on all fours, their massive bodies twisted and bloated by death and dark magic. If they reached the wall...


    "Twenty yards!" he called out. "Archers ready!"


    Bows creaked as they were drawn back. The villagers with hunting experience showed steady hands, while others trembled visibly as they struggled to nock arrows with fingers numbed by fear.


    "Aim for the bears!" Val ordered as the first rank of ghouls crossed the invisible threshold. "Fire!"


    A ragged volley of arrows arced toward the advancing undead. Some flew true, finding their marks in rotting flesh. Others sailed harmlessly over the horde or landed short in the mud. The bears, massive targets that they were, received the brunt of the attack, arrows bristling from their decomposing bodies.


    Yet they came on.


    "Again!" Val commanded, already reaching for another arrow. "Focus on the bears!"


    A second volley, more coordinated than the first. One of the bears stumbled as an arrow found its eye socket, the shaft driving deep into whatever remained of its brain. It collapsed forward, twitching erratically before going still.


    "Got one!" Aric shouted, a brief flash of triumph crossing his face.


    Val had no time to congratulate him. The other two bears charged forward with renewed fury, breaking ahead of the ghoul pack and closing the remaining distance to the wall with frightening speed.


    "Brace!" Val shouted, throwing aside his bow and drawing his sword. "Everyone down from the wall!"


    The bears hit the palisade like twin battering rams, their massive bodies slamming against the wooden barrier with devastating force. The entire wall shuddered, timbers groaning in protest. Defenders staggered, some losing their footing on the narrow walkway and tumbling back into the village.


    Val maintained his position, gripping the railing with his free hand as the bears backed up and charged again. The second impact was even more violent than the first, splintering wood and driving supporting posts deeper into the earth.


    "They''re going to break through," Lian observed grimly, having abandoned his bow for a spear.


    "Get the villagers into defensive formation," Val ordered. "Three ranks with spears front, swords behind, axes in reserve."


    As Lian scrambled to organize the defense, Val assessed the damage to the wall. The bears had focused their attack on a single section, and the wooden palisade was already beginning to buckle. Cracks had appeared between the logs, and the entire structure leaned inward at an alarming angle.


    The bears charged a third time, hitting the weakened section with coordinated force. Wood splintered with a sound like breaking bones, and a man-sized hole appeared in the wall. Through it, Val could see the lead ghouls already pressing forward, clawing at the opening to widen it.


    "Here they come!" he shouted, leaping down from the wall to take position in front of the breach. "Form up!"


    The villagers rallied to him, forming a rough semicircle around the growing gap. Spears bristled in the front rank, while those with swords and axes waited tensely behind. The fear on their faces was palpable, but to their credit, none fled.


    The bears slammed into the wall again, enlarging the breach. One of the massive creatures tried to force its bulk through the opening but became wedged in the splintered timbers. It roared, a wet, gurgling sound from lungs filled with fluid, and thrashed violently, further damaging the wall but remaining trapped.


    "The bear!" Val called out. "Take it down while it''s stuck!"


    Spears darted forward, driving into the creature''s exposed head and neck. It thrashed more frantically, dislodging some of the weapons, but others found vulnerable spots. Dark ichor, thick and foul-smelling, oozed from its wounds as it continued to struggle.


    Meanwhile, the ghouls had found a way through, squeezing past the trapped bear or clambering over the lower sections of the damaged wall. The first of them lunged toward the defending line, only to be impaled on the waiting spears. But more followed, heedless of the fate of those before them, driven by unnatural hunger and the will of whatever controlled them.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Hold the line!" Val shouted, cutting down a ghoul that had slipped past the spear tips. "Don''t let them flank us!"


    The battle devolved into chaotic, close-quarters combat. The disciplined formation Val had attempted to establish quickly fragmented as ghouls pressed in from multiple points. The trapped bear finally tore free, leaving a larger hole through which more undead poured.


    Val found himself at the center of the defense, his sword a blur of motion as he dispatched ghoul after ghoul. Through the press of combat, he caught glimpses of his rangers. But the villagers were struggling. These were farmers and craftspeople, not warriors, and though they fought bravely, they lacked the skill and conditioning for prolonged combat. One by one, they began to fall. Some were merely wounded, others killed outright as ghouls broke through their guard.


    A shout to his left drew Val''s attention. Two villagers were attempting to patch the breach with boards and debris, working frantically to stem the tide of undead. Their efforts might have succeeded had the second bear not chosen that moment to charge again. The massive creature slammed into their makeshift repair, sending both men flying backward with injuries that left them writhing on the ground.


    Val cursed, realizing the situation was deteriorating rapidly. Worse, with attention focused on the ground-level breach, ghouls had begun scaling the wall itself. They climbed clumsily but effectively, using the rough texture of the logs and the gaps between them as handholds. Several had already reached the top and were dropping down inside the perimeter, threatening to surround the defenders.


    "Fall back to the houses!" Val ordered, realizing they needed a more defensible position. "Aric, Lian help the wounded! Mara, cover them!"


    The sergeant acknowledged with a curt nod, organizing a rear guard of her more experienced fighters. Val fought his way to the injured men, cutting down two ghouls that had cornered them against the damaged wall. Both villagers were bleeding heavily, one clutching a broken arm while the other had suffered deep lacerations across his chest.


    "Can you walk?" Val asked urgently.


    The man with the broken arm nodded, struggling to his feet with a grimace of pain. The other tried to rise but collapsed, his wounds too severe.


    All around, the battle had fragmented into isolated pockets of resistance. The undead bear that had breached the perimeter was wreaking havoc, its massive paws swatting defenders aside with bone-crushing force. Villagers fled before it, abandoning their positions and creating gaps in the defense through which more ghouls poured.


    Val recognized the moment when a battle turns. An imperceptible shift when defense becomes retreat, and retreat threatens to become rout. They needed to regroup, to establish a new defensive line before panic took hold completely.


    "To me!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Rangers and guards to me!"


    Some responded to his call, fighting their way toward his position. Others were too far away or too engaged in their own desperate struggles to comply. The defensive line had completely collapsed, with villagers retreating in all directions.


    Val found himself pressed back against the wall by a surge of ghouls, their rotting hands grasping for him, yellowed teeth snapping inches from his face. He fought with an anger only those about to die ever feel, his sword flashing in tight arcs that severed limbs and split skulls, but for every ghoul he felled, two more took its place.


    "Fall back! Keep formation!" His orders rang out even as he realized the impossibility of maintaining any kind of order in the chaos. The eastern wall was lost and they needed to save who they could and regroup with the force at the north gate.


    As the ghouls pressed closer, Val made a decision. Retreating another step, he reached deep within himself, tapping into the well of aether that resided within his core. The familiar warmth spread through his limbs, heightening his senses and suffusing his muscles with supernatural strength.


    Time seemed to slow as the aether coursed through him. The movements of the ghouls, already clumsy, now appeared almost lethargic to his enhanced perception. His own body responded with preternatural speed, his sword finding gaps and vulnerabilities that would have been invisible to normal sight.


    In a fluid sequence of strikes, he dispatched five ghouls in as many seconds, creating space around him where there had been none. The aether enhancement was a temporary advantage. It would tax his endurance heavily if maintained too long, but in this moment, it was exactly what they needed.


    "With me!" he called to the nearest defenders, his voice carrying with unnatural clarity through the din of battle. "Fall back to the houses!"


    Bolstered by his sudden resurgence, the remaining fighters rallied to him. Together they carved a path backward, step by deliberate step, allowing the wounded to be carried to relative safety.


    The undead bear that had been rampaging through their ranks turned its attention to this new resistance. It charged toward Val, moving with surprising speed for something so large and decayed. Normal instincts would have commanded retreat before such a massive threat, but with aether enhancing his capabilities, Val stood his ground.


    As the bear reached him, he sidestepped with inhuman quickness, his sword slashing across its exposed flank. The blade bit deep, severing rotting tendons and splintering bone. The creature roared and twisted toward him, but its movements were now uncoordinated, its damaged leg collapsing beneath its weight.


    Val pressed the advantage, darting in close to deliver a series of precise strikes to its head and neck. The bear thrashed wildly, one massive paw catching him with a glancing blow that would have shattered ribs without his aether enhancement. Even so, the impact sent him staggering back several paces, momentarily winded.


    The bear tried to rise, its movements growing increasingly erratic as Val''s strikes destroyed the magical connections animating it. With a final, gurgling roar, it collapsed, its bulk blocking the path of the ghouls behind it and buying precious seconds for the retreat.


    The remnants of their force retreated in something approaching order, taking shelter in the sturdy wooden buildings that lined the eastern quarter of the village. These structures, while not designed for defense, offered better protection than the open ground. Narrow doorways and windows would funnel the attackers, negating their numerical advantage.


    Val directed injured fighters toward the center of the village, where Elara had established her field hospital. Those still capable of combat he organized into small groups, assigning each to defend a specific building or intersection.


    "Lian," he called to the ranger, who had emerged relatively unscathed from the initial onslaught. "Take five men and secure that junction. Hold it as long as you can, then fall back to the next house."


    The ranger nodded, gathering a mixed group of villagers and guards before taking position at the indicated intersection. Similar groups formed throughout the area, creating a patchwork defense that would slow the undead advance even if it couldn''t stop it completely.


    Val released his aether enhancement, the sudden absence of power leaving him momentarily light-headed. He couldn''t maintain that level of exertion indefinitely, and they still had a long fight ahead of them. Better to conserve his strength for when it would be most needed.


    The ghouls, having breached the wall in multiple places, now poured into the village in a steady stream. They showed no tactical awareness beyond a basic drive to attack the living, but their numbers made them dangerous nonetheless. They spread through the eastern quarter, seeking prey with single-minded determination.


    The house-to-house fighting proceeded much as Val had anticipated. The defenders used the confined spaces to their advantage, meeting the undead at doorways and windows where only one or two could attack simultaneously. When a position became untenable, they retreated to the next building, maintaining a flexible defense that gradually contracted toward the village center.


    Val moved between groups, reinforcing weak points and organizing the retreat to prevent isolated pockets from being surrounded and overwhelmed. But despite their best efforts, casualties mounted. Not every defender made it to the fallback position when the order came. Not every wounded fighter could be evacuated in time.


    "We''re losing too many," Aric observed grimly, rejoining Val after helping a wounded villager to safety. Blood stained his tunic, though whether his own or someone else''s was impossible to tell.


    "We''re buying time," Val corrected him, scanning the chaotic battlefield.


    Even as he spoke, a horn sounded from the direction of the south gate. Val felt a surge of hope. "To me! To me!" Val called as loud as he could manage.