Sitting through a church service was a trial even at the best of times, but it was made a million times worse by the embarrassment of sitting through it with her husband.

Morven stared straight ahead trying desperately to ignore the fidgeting of her wayward husband. It was almost impossible for Alexis to sit still for five minutes, and there was absolutely no way it was going to happen for two hours.

She sighed softly in irritation as he began to drum out a tune on his thighs, a noise she was sure was loud enough for the whole congregation to hear.

She sharply turned to glare at him, in an attempt to make him stop with her evident scorn. She was bored too but one wouldn’t find her fidgeting. She had already read the bible ten times, and knew the story Father Harndall was reciting back to front. Actually she wished she could discuss with him her thoughts on it, but unfortunately this was not befitting of a woman as she had been reminded on several occasions when she opened her mouth with an opinion.

He pointed to himself with a look of mock atonishment as if to say “Me, are you angry at me”. She had to laugh, albeit a very quiet chuckle. Suddenly rather than an embarassment she felt as though she had an ally against the monotony.

To show that she was not angry anymore she very quietly drummed on her thighs too, hoping the father would not notice.

But when she looked up he was deeply engrossed in reciting the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and seemed oblivious to all, caught up in a religious fervour.

She had to admit he was a lot more interesting than most priests and he had the added advantage of being young and easy to look at. That definitely made the time pass a little quicker. Also, his evident enthusiasm was often contagious and the people generally enjoyed his sermons far more than they supposed they ought to.

Her train of thought was abruptly interrupted by a strangled sob to the left of her. She carefully looked sideways and saw that the noise had come from Sister Mella who was now wearing a look of utter terror on her face.

She saw that Lisbet, sitting on the same pew as the nun, was doing her utmost best to stare fixedly ahead and ignore what was going on beside her.

The nun suddenly made a low growling noise loud enough for those around her to hear.

From the corner of her eye, Morven could see the Sister’s outburst was apparently directed at Lisbet, but she did not think Lisbet had said something that could provoke such a response.

She noticed a number of people in the pews in front of her, stiffen and sit up straighter. They had obviously noticed that something strange was going on behind them, and were chosing to ignore it.

Father Harndall had stopped speaking and was staring to the back of the room, an expression of sorrow on his face.

“STOP!!!!”, the Nun suddenly cried, to the astonishment of everyone in the room.

It was well-known that Sister Mella had not spoken a word since the invasion.

She then began making guttural sobbing noise that did not resemble any speech Morven had ever heard.

She could not help but stare at the raving woman, even though she knew it was very rude.

Suddenly the Mella stopped ranting at her unseen antagonist and stared directly at Morven. Morven shuddered and chills ran up and down her spine. The nuns eyes were so vacant and cold, devoid of emotion. Morven quickly turned away to remove herself from the Sister’s empty gaze.

A greater disturbance at the front of the makeshift church caused her to rise hurriedly out of her chair, as the room was pierced by a woman’s shriek of pain.

She saw Lochan looking at his wife in horror and rising out of his seat as she began to slip off the pew.

She moaned in agony and clutched her scrawny belly, falling to her knees on the wooden floor with a thud. Her face was contorted, the grimace only enhancing her already macabre appearance.

She curled up in a ball, sobbing in anguish, her tiny hands grasping at her stomach as her distressed husband rushed to her aid.

Morven heard a hysterical laugh from behind her and turned to see, to her horror, Mella, a look of abandoned glee on her face. Morven was close enough to hear her panting breath whistling between her clenched teeth, and see the whites of her eyes as they rolled madly around.

Arwaduhn, Hwratar, Inbar, Moraghdu, Murchadh, Tadhgar, The Church, The Royal Family