Scroldie Flipped

Misunderstandings

"Ow! Stupid O'Gilt and her stupid clever traps. Hey, get off me, snake!" A disheveled Glomgold flailed his hand, trying to dislodge the snake.

He pulled out an arrow that had gotten stuck in his kilt, and maniacally laughed. "So long, Goldie." He began to give a long winded speech about his hatred for Goldie as he slowly sawed off the rope.

He smiled with satisfaction as he heard a high pitched scream. Goldie was dead and he and Scrooge could split the treasure among themselves.

"To the last, I grapple with thee, from Hades' - Ahh! A snake! Meh, I'm sure she got the gist of it."

===

Goldie flopped onto the rocky floor after Scrooge helped her up.

"Ow, my back." She groaned, not even having the strength to move a muscle.

"Thanks to yer dumb idea, we almost were killed, ya idiot!" Scrooge shouted at her, sitting on a large rock. "And mah knee is acting up again. Ach!"

"Well, excuse me for wanting to make sure you didn't betray me again!" Goldie lifted her head to glare up at Scrooge.

"Donnae ya forget who started this little tradition of backstabbing between us." He darkly muttered.

"I did not!" Goldie indignantly exclaimed. "Just- just give me a hand up." She sighed.

Scrooge made a talking motion with his hand, but still helped Goldie up.

"Thanks." She begrudgingly said.

Scrooge remained suspiciously silent as they walked further into the caves.

===

The two old ducks slowly trudged through the rocky road. Goldie gasped on seeing a soft multicolored glow coming from her right.

"It's the rainbow caves!" Goldie exclaimed, pulling Scrooge along with her by his scarf.

"We must be close! And fer heavens sake woman, stop choking me!" Scrooge coughed out.

The two joined each of their map pieces and saw that the fabled Lagoon was somewhere close. Goldie noticed a flash from behind her shoulder.

"What?" Scrooge asked her, wide eyes and the perfect picture of innocence. "Ae'm just giving ye some reading light, Gold."

Goldie snatched back his phone. "You know, I'm actually surprised you know to use a phone."

"Louie taught me. Ya know, the lad is extremely talented with tha Internet. He even discovered this nifty inline betting website in tha, what was it again?- ah, dark web."

"It's online, not inline, and that betting website is probably illegal and did you say dark web?!"

"Yes?" Scrooge meekly asked, unsure of how to respond after Goldie's little outburst.

"Of course he's involved in some shady activity." Goldie dragged her hands down her eyes. "Now come on, it's just a little further."

The tunnel turned darker the further they went.

"Erm, Goldie?"

"Yes?"

"Do ya have a light?"

Goldie proudly whipped out her waterproof matches. She struck one against the side of the box and handed it to Scrooge. "Here. What do you need it for?"

"Ta light this trail of gunpowder I've been leaving behind, of course!" Scrooge smirked, idly twirling the match.

"But you could cause a cave in! We'll get killed!" She shouted.

"Meh. Ae'm sure you'll stop it. Yer Goldie O'Gilt after all." Scrooge pulled Goldie in close with one hand and softly kissed her. He then dropped the flaming match without further ado. "Best of luck, darlin'."

He watched as Goldie hurriedly scampered, following the fatal trail. Scrooge wasn't an idiot to cause a cave in, he just led the trail to the outside of a bear's cave. Goldie'd easily subdue the beast, he reasoned. She'd faced much, much worse in her life.

Scrooge swallowed the guilt in his heart and pulled out Goldie's half of the map from his scarf. He'd stolen it from her when he kissed her. He actually felt bad about using her that way, but she deserved it, he supposed. After all she'd done to him, she deserved it.

He slung his back pack across his shoulders and marched ahead. He nearly turned back, wanting to race back to help Goldie, but his feet refused to obey.

It's fine. He reasoned. She'll be fine. I'll check up on her after I meet Glomgold and swindle him.

Scrooge walked alone, through winding paths and turning caves and-

"Ah! Get off me ya bear!"

Scrooge heard some grunts and growls.

"Goldie. Of course it's you." He sighed and resigned himself to his fate. His vision faded after a whack on the head.