“Right.” He squirmed backward and got to his feet. “We’ll need to pile it high, with as much as it can hold. If we can get enough weight to take off the edge of this crag …” He made a chopping gesture with one hand. “It will block the path. But first we need to get our fulcrum in place.” He glanced around, seeking a smallish boulder. “How about that one?”

“Aye, boss!” A Tordenstem Fjel padded cheerfully down the log ramp. It dipped under his heavy tread. He splayed his legs and squatted, lowering his barrel chest near to the ground, and wrapped powerful arms around the rock. It came loose in a shower of pebbles. “Where do you want it?”

“Here.” Speros pointed to the spot.

The Fjel grunted and waddled forward. There was a second crash as he set down his burden at the base of the wooden rick. “There you are, then.”

“That’s done it. Shall we see if it will work?” Speros reclaimed the lever and tested it, lodging the pointed tip of the log beneath the mammoth boulder they had first moved. He positioned the midsection over the rock intended to serve as the fulcrum and leaned all his weight on the butt.

“Careful, boss,” one of the Tordenstem rumbled.

“Don’t worry.” Speros bounced on the lever. Nothing so much as shifted. “Can you move it, Gorek?”

The Fjel showed the tips of his eyetusks in a modest smile. “Like as not.” He approached the lever, taloned hands grasping the rough bark, and pushed.

It shifted, and the entire structure groaned.

“All right!” Speros said hastily. “One, then; or two of you at the most. We’ll work it out later. Come on, lads, let’s load the rick.”

Hoofbeats sounded along the path that led from Darkhaven proper as the Fjel formed a chain, piling the wooden rick high with loose rocks and stones. Speros went out to meet the approaching rider. And there was Tanaros, clad in black armor, all save his helmet, astride the black destrier he had claimed in the Midlands, surveying his—his—accomplishments.

“Lord General!” Speros felt his face split in another grin. “Do you see what we’ve done here?”

“Indeed.” Tanaros drew rein and took it in; the rick, the boulders, the lever, the Tordenstem padding their way up the crude ramp to deposit heavy stones. Dismounting, he strode to the edge of the promontory and gazed at the path below, gauging the trajectory. The wind stirred his dark hair. “Would it block the path entirely?”

“Long enough to give them trouble. There’s another site that may work as well.” Watching the General stand on the verge of the abyss gave Speros an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Careful, my lord. There’s not much holding that ledge up.”

Tanaros raised his brows. “That’s the point, isn’t it?”

“Aye.” Speros swallowed nervously.