The Gobi Desert was too hot during the day and too cold at night, but Scrooge and Goldie were determined to find the gold they knew was waiting for them.
A chilly wind blew past - making him shiver and groan. "You said comin' here in th' winter would be easier!"
"Well, that's what I was told! Don't be so dramatic, it's not that bad. There's not even any snow."
Scrooge jogged up so he was standing next to her and cuddled inside his coat. "That doesnae change th' fact that I'm freezin' my tail feathers aff out here."
She laid her hand on his arm for a moment and smirked. "Somehow I think you'll make it."
With an eyeroll, Scrooge turned around and walked back to their khulan. The man who'd sold him the stupid donkey wouldn't budge on his prices at all, so he and Goldie had been sharing him for the past few days. Sharing with Goldie O'Gilt was never an easy task, but the fact that he saved so much made it worth the extra effort.
He did wish he'd sprung for a second map, however. Not that he even had that option with all the details added by Goldie's "source". Normally wouldn't let her keep hold of it, but in this particular instance his hands were too cold and too stuffed into his oversized gloves to care.
"What are ye lookin' for, again?" He reached for his water and chugged more than he probably should've. He needed to be more careful about their rations.
She sighed. "According to my contact, we'll know that we need to start going east when we see a clearing of rocks shaped like a heart."
"See it yet?"
"No." Goldie stuffed the map back into her bag. "So we'll continue going south. Based on our current speed, we should be in Oyu Tolgoi within the next three days."
"Oh?" Scrooge smiled. "That's sooner than Ah thought. How about we stop for th' night an' save our energy for th' sunlight, then?"
She turned around and glared. "Are you serious? The sun's still technically up. We could make a little more headway at least."
Ignoring her, Scrooge was already unpacking his sleeping bag and dragging it behind a large rock - perfect for blocking the sun when morning came. "Yoo'll thank me once ye get some shut-eye, O'Gilt. Plus it's about to get e'en colder."
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were getting too old for this," she mumbled. "Can't we just sleep on the donkey again?"
"My back cannae take another night of that!" Scrooge whined. "Sleepin' on him and ye sleepin' on me is not the luxury spa ye seem tae think it is!"
Goldie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She wouldn't deny the discomfort - but they were so close. She wanted that gold as soon as possible, and with Slowpoke McWhinypants on her side, it'd probably take another week to get there.
Scrooge rolled around in his sleeping bag for a good few minutes before finally falling asleep. She looked up to see the sun finally going down, and wondered why he hadn't complained about hunger in the past few hours. He must've brought along something of his own that he'd been sneakily eating during their journey. What an ass.
Goldie grabbed some food out of her bag - some stale bread and raisins; a lovely dinner. The same dinner she'd had for days and days. But hey - once that gold was in her pocket, she could buy herself a one-way ticket to London and eat with the Queen if she wanted to!
After eating, Goldie glanced at her own sleeping bag. Try as she might, she could not make herself tired. It was too exciting to know that there was a ton of gold just waiting for her on the other side of the desert. And she knew there was gold there - as suspicious as Scroogey was, she trusted her source as much as she could trust anyone.
Hours later, she wasn't feeling anymore tired. She inhaled the night's atmosphere and looked down at Scrooge's sleeping form. He was just wasting her time - first he kept making stops to drink or pee or complain about the weather, then he says they should set up camp when she wasn't even remotely tired? These few hours to think to herself had led to one conclusion...he was slowing her down. He'd come into a ton of gold on his own recently and probably wasn't as invested as she was.
With a quiet sigh, she walked over to his bag and pulled out a notebook and a pen. He'd be mad about this, so the least she could do would be to leave him a note. Fortunately, she had no reason to worry about him. He was, after all, Scrooge McDuck.
Goldie finished writing and tucked the letter into his sleeping bag so he'd be sure to find it. He snorted obnoxiously in his sleep at the sudden movement. She rolled her eyes, but at the same time, thought it was kind of...weirdly cute.
She leaned down and kissed his cheek. "Later, Sourdough." Hopping on their previously-shared khulan, she tossed a few things he'd need out of their pack and took off.
A few hours later, Scrooge was awoken by an uncomfortable piece of paper stabbing into his neck. He shuffled around for a bit, but eventually decided now was a good a time as any to move. "Ye up, Goldie?"
The lack of response sent Scrooge into immediate panic mode. He suddenly sat up and looked around to see the sun peeking out on the horizon and a few things missing - his partner, his ride, and most of his stuff. His eye twitched in anger and he snatched the piece of paper that woke him up to read it thoroughly.
"Scrooge -
Got tired of sitting around. Looks like the gold is mine!
3 G"
He exhaled loudly and ground his teeth together. Should've seen this coming. Really should've seen it coming. Just because she stuck with him through their adventure in the Bermuda Triangle, didn't mean he could sit back and pretend she'd changed!
Scrooge looked around him. Besides the canteen of water and small bag of coins she left him, there wasn't anything in his sights but sand, dirt, and more sand. He didn't even have to check to know that she'd taken the map with her.
He racked his brain to see if he could remember any details at all. There was definitely a village somewhere southwest of him. Or at least some sort of monastery. Either way - there'd be food and there'd be people.
Scrooge rolled up the sleeping bag and stuffed it into his bag. There was plenty of room since Goldie left him with such a small amount of stuff. It was times like these when he wondered if she really didn't care if he died. Another blast of cold wind blew by and he shivered, wrapping himself up properly in his coat.
She was lucky, that ol' Glittering Goldie. Doing this to any other duck would leave them dead and her guilty. But he'd be fine. After all, he was Scrooge McDuck!
