'That it would,' said Tul. 'And we could dig us a ditch down here in front, plant some stakes round the bottom, make it harder for 'era to get up close.'

'Then close that gate, nail it shut, and wedge a load of rocks in behind it.'

'We'll have trouble getting out,' said Tul.

Logen snorted. 'Us getting out won't be the pressing problem, I'm thinking.'

'You've a point right there,' laughed Crummock, ambling up with a lit pipe in his fat fist. 'It's Bethod's boys getting in that we should worry on.'

'Getting these walls patched up would be a good start at settling my mind.' Dogman pointed at the trees grown up over the wall. 'We need to get these cut down and cut up, carve us out some stone, mix us some mortar and all the rest. Crummock, you got people can do that? You got tools?'

He puffed at his pipe, frowning at Dogman all the long while, then blew brown smoke. 'I might have, but I won't take my orders from such as you, Dogman. The moon knows my talents, and they're for murder, not mortaring.' Grim rolled his eyes.

'Who will you take orders from?' asked Logen.

'I'll take 'em from you, Bloody-Nine, and from no other! The moon loves you, and I love the moon, and you're the man for—'

'Then get your people together and get to fucking cutting wood and stone. I'm bored o' your blather.'

Crummock knocked out his ashes sourly against the wall. 'You're no fun at all, you boys, you do nothing but worry. You need to think on the sunny side o' this. The worst that can happen is that Bethod don't show!'

'The worst?' Dogman stared at him. 'You sure? What about if Bethod does come, and his Carls kick your wall over like a pile o' turds and kill every last one of us?'

Crummock's brow furrowed. He frowned down at the ground. He squinted up at the clouds. 'True,' he said, breaking out in a smile. 'That is worse. You got a fast mind, lad.'

Dogman gave a long sigh, and stared down into the valley. The wall might not have been all they'd hoped for, but you couldn't knock the position. Coming up that steep slope against a set of hard men, high above and with nothing to lose, ready and more'n able to kill you. That was no one's idea o' fun.

'Tough to get organised down there,' said Logen, speaking Dog-man's own thoughts. 'Specially with arrows plunging on you from above and nothing to hide behind. Hard to make numbers count. I wouldn't much fancy trying it myself. How are we going to work it, if they come?'