East wind leading to death or removal of rock, perhaps (9)
I believe the answer is:
steadying
'removal of rock perhaps' is the definition.
(rock as in swaying unsteadily)
'east wind leading to death' is the wordplay.
'wind' is an anagram indicator.
'leading to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (some letters go before or lead others).
'death' becomes 'dying' ('dying' can be a synonym of 'death'**).
'east' with letters rearranged gives 'stea'.
'stea'+'dying'='STEADYING'
'or' is the link.
(Other definitions for steadying that I've seen before include "Making firm, supporting" , "making stable" .)