faithbound. [marquis & Earinor]

"What? You alone? Besides, I thought you wanted a demon hunter around.", Azrael simply answered. He clearly didn't believe this priest could do anything to stop him. "I wasn't going to enter your monastery anyway and if you come back out with some soldiers ready to hunt me down, I'll be long gone. Wouldn't be the first time a priest has it out for a demon hunter." And it wasn't the first time a priest having it out for him either. Not because he made a lot of enemies, or conversations in the first place, but there was always someone searching for a reason for all the carnage the demons brought. "See? You're odd, but that might not be a bad thing." Letting them believe and live whatever they wanted? How very strange. If the priest thought Azrael would lower his guard because of words like these, he was wrong though. Even if Ignatius wanted to stay the night in that monastery, Azrael would set up his own camp out of sight, taking care of himself. Demons were the least of his problems then, but he was proficient in taking care of himself.

Azrael continues through the wood in a decent pace with some room between the two of them, he really didn't want him all too close. He did notice that the priest grew tired, he stumbled over lose branches and stones more often and sometimes the demon hunter had to wait up for him a bit. He just took the bag Azrael tossed him, which was surprising, but if he had settled on taking Azraels head, maybe he just played along for the rest of the journey. "For now.", he answered. As long as he kept it on him. Continuing on Azrael decided to lead them back to a road, it would be easier for the priest to follow and maybe he knew where to go from there. Once he emerged from the bushes he waited for Ignatius to follow him out on the dirt road snaking through the forest. "It's hard to guide you somewhere if I don't know where we are going exactly. Do you know which way? Or you could show me on a map?", he asked. Without knowing how far it was from here, Azrael couldn't tell if they'd make it before sundown either.

"Me alone, is that astounding? Sure, maybe it's not right for me to assume that you have no one to back you up, but it's astounding to see how easy it is for you to trust someone, if I may be so frank.", Ignatius almost complained, with a voice as sweet as honey and yet, an attitude as rotten as that of an old king that had lived in nothing but luxury and pure arrogance for his entire life. "You're awfully confident, but you have the skills to be. Not much of a fan of monasteries or gods men, I take it?", he questioned, sounding quite amused as he doubled down on his opinion. None of this was an explanation for Azraels behavior, but Ignatius held firm that he didn't even need one - his savior ratted himself out with just a few prods and probes, something he appreciated and yet, at the same time, cared little for - why give a damn about something that didn't matter in the slightest? None of this was going to leave their path; it wouldnt befall some damned souls ears, would not travel beyond what he knew and would most definitely not find its place within someones clutches, especially not if he could hardly stand them. What a laughable idea; some priests listening to him, simply because he had the power to make them and he'd use it to shill secrets about the poor? That, if anything, was pathetic. "If you think that's fine, then I won't argue. I wouldn't describe myself as odd, though."

There was no other road they could take, even as he stumbled through half the area, he felt as if he was merely making a fool of himself, perhaps even making it worse for both him and his guide, but all that said, wasn't he having a better time than all holed up at home? Studying, day in and day out, as well as proving himself to a bunch of hardheads that knew nothing except their own teachings - it had, perhaps, gotten quite boring. This, however, had some oddly welcoming feeling about it, despite the freakish nature of their encounter. None of these things should have happened in the first place, but they did, no, they already had, and there wasn't much else to be done about that. "That doesn't sound promising." But what ever did? None of these things happened because they needed to, but simply because they hadn't planned ahead enough. Really, it was as simple as that, but even the dumbest of them could follow a guide so simple and quaint, and thus, they had died, protecting what they believed in, which turned out to be him, who couldn't even admit to his own existence. In a way, it was sad, then again, what did he have to be sad about? There was no disease that plagued him and no imminent death that lay ahead of him - evenn if he begged to differ at this point. As they resurfaced, he looked around - it was a nice stretch of land in its own right, perhaps a bit boring, but still something he could easily deal with if he needed to - given, he had never been outside the monastery, but frankly, he had not missed it in the slightest. "Yes, I can se that. Let me give you an idea.", he suggested and looked around - they had no map on them, and thus, Ignatius grabbed a stick, the best one he could spot, long enough to draw, as he started making shapes in the loose ground beneath their feet. What started as shapes turned into a map of their home country soon enough, with Ignatius drawing a circle for their starting point, a small x for yesterday nights massacre and a bigger one for their new goal; another monastery, far out from here. "Does that help?" Hopefully, his companion could appreciate the craftmanship that went into this - none of those lessons had been wasted on Ignatius, even if they were stricter than they should be.

"I don't trust you.", Azrael made clear very quickly. This guy was a priest, that alone warranted his mistrust. Azrael didn't trust anyone if he was honest and maybe he ran his mouth a lot today, but either way, why would he be scared of one priest? If his brethren started to see Azrael as their new big target, he'd go to another area, where they didn't have an influence and eventually they'd forget about him again. The demon hunter didn't try to make enemies, but he certainly wouldn't act outside of his nature, just to please some clerics. "I think I made clear why I don't trust any of you.", he replied. He didn't need to give further reason, he'd seen what churches did all over the land, what they sold as being faithful and pure, when they were the complete opposite. He liked demons better, they were simple creatures and didn't attempt to hide their brutal nature. They were aware of what they were and embraced it, while all those priest, those executioners showered themselves with praise and believed to be in the right when they clearly weren't.

Azraels methods were different and often times regarded as unholy, or something along those lines. What he did had nothing to do with god or magic, which in the churches eyes often times fell into the category of unholy. They were scared by the prospect of normal people helping themselves and not having to rely and support the churches and their work. They were afraid of losing control and power over lands, cities and settlements, but there was nothing bad about Azraels methods. He wouldn't make Ignatius kill people, eat childrens hearts or anything of that nature, but depending on how deeply rooted the churches narrow believes were in him, he might complain down the line. Azrael didn't comment any further and instead looked to their feet at the crude map Ignatius drew in the dirt. They had a long way to go and the sun almost reached the highest point for the day. "We'll need to keep up the pace if we want to arrive there before sundown. We'll take the road for a while, that should be easier for you. Since your church is known here, meeting anybody shouldn't be a problem. As long as it's no bandits. Or anyone you people offended." Azrael wiped the map away with his boot again. No need to give anyone an idea as to where they came from or where they were going.

“I’m aware.”, he was quick to comment. If he did, wouldn’t the two of them be celebrating right now? They’d probably not talk like this to one another, or at least they would be able to let down their guard. Instead, nothing of the sort happened - instead, they were exchanging quick glances that didn’t mean anything neat, proper or loving. No, none of these things were common between someone one would be willing to trust and Ignatius didn’t blame this guy for it - not here, not now, that was all that mattered, really. “I got you the first time, no need to double down.” Priests seemed to be lesser or perhaps just annoying creatures in this mans mind, an observation he couldn’t and wouldn’t rid himself of, not in a lifetime, but he accepted that. Suspicions were present even within the heart of the church, about the most absurd of people - mistrust was something forged out of misinformation and prejudice was normal, he’d been told. All of this eventually led to so much more than just the collapse of ones sanity; no relationship would prosper like this, but what did he care? Ignatius didn’t need to like this demonhunter, or trust him - he was just his best choice, something that had become quite apparent during the night.

As the map was wiped from existence, he could not complain - if anyone figured out where they were going, all precautions were essentially useless, and in just te slightest of ways, they were also doing nothing but making a mess out of their plans. Turthfully, Ignatius didn't enjoy this hush-hush operation, as it was not being true to himself or others expectations of what would happen, but alas, it was the best they could do, and perhaps even the best option he had in the first place. Was this where madness led? He could only figure it to be so. "Sounds like a lot of walking. A lot more than I enjoy, but ... lets get this over with. Spending another night out here might be even worse.", he was quick to complain as he started walking in their presumed right direction. Ah, how he longed to get out of here, and hell, how he wanted to be seen as something more than just another priest, given that perhaps someone would grant him the due respect he figured to have earned; however, in front of Azrael, being but a priest was perhaps the right choice, if not the smartest. Did this guy like anyone? Hardly, probably. "How long do you reckon this will take?"

Despite Azraels mistrust, sadly the churches members made up many of his customers. Sometimes villages managed to scrape money together to pay a demonhunter to get rid of demons around their village, sometimes Azrael would work fpr cheap for a little family that needed protection on the road. He had a softspot for children and if he saw someone in need for help on the road, he would help too. Even priests, priests like Ignatius. He probably would have died on his own, if only because he'd eventually starve, lost in the woods. Perhaps Azrael didn't want to become a monster like the people he hated so much. Perhaps Azrael was reminded of the days he would have needed help but no one would stop for a dirty orphan. He knew very well that most people were as vile as the demons, but he didn't want to be one of them. He kept everyone at arms length, he was vigilant and prepared to fight or run if he needed to, but he was willing to risk his life anyway.

Azrael was tired of talking and the priest probably needed his breath for walking. "They told us this journey of yours would take two to three months, are you sure you're up for this?", Azrael asked as reaction to Ignatius complaining. "How long until we're at the monastery? This pace, no breaks, hopefully by sundown. If you think you won't be able to, we can go slower and spend the night in the woods.", he suggested. This priest didn't seem like he was used to walking a lot and if he was already complaining halfway through the day, maybe pushing him made no sense." There'll be many nights outside until you reach your end goal anyway, you can't avoid sleeping outside forever and I think we'll get far enough from last nights camp to be save for the night and if not you have me to protect you."

Their journey wasn't an easy one, he'd been made aware of that from the start, and yet, he toiled around the area with someone this close and yet that far from him that he had to wonder if this was the right choice. If anything, this was stupid, and if something, Ignatius was just making a fool of himself by clinging by the sole remnant of an expedition that should have never happened in the first place. As it stood, though, it was already too late and there was nothing he could do about any of this, not when they made their way through all the uneven terrain they had agreed to mostly avoid - there were some things they couldn't get around, no? "We'll figure it out. Somehow. I mean, I'm supposed to undertake this journey for a few reasons, I won't make do with some lame excuses ... but I admit, I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be.", the redhead complained, sighed about even and wondered where else they would make their way before they found the monastery. Was he doubting his own thoughts, his own knowledge or the flashes of visions that simply couldn't escape him? Whatever the case, he came to realize, it would take forever to truly make sense of, and as it stood, perhaps that was simply right. Wasn't it?

The sun eventually sank between the hills in the distance, its bright hue turning into that of fresh, orange yolk as it found itself trapped at the edge of the world and Ignatius had to admit that, well, god be damned, they were not going anywhere tonight. Well, not to the monastery at least, that comfortably sat in the distance, illuminated by the sinking sun that would encroach upon them once more, come tomorrow. They could stop here and now, that much was clear, but instead, they should push on, and they did - at least until they reached the small village at the foot of the hill, and Ignatius was happy to not have to spend another night out there, camping and idling about - surely, they could ascend upward, to his brethren, but it was dark already and the priests had long since gone to bed, he assumed, or at least closed the monastery for the night. "Well. I guess we need to find an inn now? I can pay. For both of us.", he quickly decided and dragged himself further in. His legs hurt like hell, he wasn't used to this, and it would only get worse as every single day passed, wouldn't it? Some walking was fine, but this had been too fast and too excessive. "Do you think we can borrow a horse?", he suddenly suggested to Azrael.

Ignatius didn't have to tell Azrael that he wasn't prepared for a journey like this, it was clear as day. He didn't ask why he was the one having to go on this journey to begin with, probably some weird church reason, Azrael didn't really care. He kept the pace and every now and then had them cut trough bushes and trees to make up time. When the sun slowly started to sink and vanish behind the treetops Azrael picked up the pace. He didn't mind sleeping outside, but they were close and even if they ended up walking at night for one more hour, it would have been fine. They could see the monastery in the distance for quite some while and finally reached the foot of the hill it resided on, right before the village closed its doors for the night. Once they slipped in and Azrael led them further in, away from too many prying eyes that wanted to get a look at any visitors, he finally stopped. He was told by Ignatius that the monastery would be closed at this hour and that they needed to stay until tomorrow.

"Mhm. Let's find one then." The village wasn't very big, but still one of the bigger settlements Azrael had seen in his lifetime. They had a wooden wall erected around it. Settlements linked to churches always did better, they were always protected a bit better by the priests, which was somewhat of a good thing, but Azrael was sure, to keep being protected they had to pay a huge toll to the clergy. "Borrow a horse?", Azrael asked with a little scuff. "No one will borrow you a horse for three months, but you can try buying one, if anyone has one to spare, two would be even better if I were to accompany you." Horses were scarce, they got killed off way too easily. They'd be faster though, although they'd need to keep to the roads like this. Azrael didn't necessarily like traveling on road, but otherwise that priest would just collapse on him anyway. After finding the inn, Azrael opened the door and held it open for Ignatius to enter first. He was the one with the money so Azrael decided to let him do the talking.