© 2026 – J.B. Norman, published by Emona Literary Services
As she sneaks through the third sub-level of the west wing of Special Vaults at the First Bank of Porthaven with Dunstana, Niamh can help but think that this isn’t like her typical heists.
On top of the fact that she’s never had to sneak into a back vault to reclaim an ancient Pelayan King’s burial urn to return him to the current Pelayan King…
As she stops suddenly, causing Dunstana to bump into her, Niamh thinks she’s figured it out.
“You know,” Niamh whispers, looking over her shoulder at Dunstana. “Humming the music like that doesn’t help. We’re trying to be sneaky.”
Dunstana smiles back apologetically at the Half-Goblin thief. “Oh. Sorry. But it really adds to the atmosphere, doesn’t it?”
“Uh huh,” Niamh says sceptically.
“It’s just that, when I get an idea, saying it out loud makes it seem, like, realer, you know?” Dunstana explains. “And, well, we’re sneaking, so I start thinking sneaking music.”
“Uh huh,” Niamh says sceptically.
Niamh steers Dunstana around a corner and ducks into the shadows with her as one of the patrolling guards approaches.
Now, a quick reminder that I am a professional writer and editor, and if you’re in need of writing and editing support, please consider taking a look at the work and rates currently offered by Emona Literary Services™ and reach out if you think I can help you.
Please consider supporting Emona Literary Services™ to help me expanding my publishing and content creation projects, via Patreon, Ko-fi, or directly through Paypal by scanning the QR code below:
You can follow me on my various social media platforms here:
© Joel Balkovec — Published by Emona Literary Services™.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The author prohibits the use of content published on this website for the purposes of training Artificial Intelligence technologies, including but not limited to Large Language Models, without express written permission.
All stories published on this website are works of fiction. Characters are products of the author’s imagination and do not represent any individual, living or dead.
View the Emona Literary Services™ Privacy Policy here.
Emona Literary Services 
Leave a comment