Everlasting Enchantment by Kathryne Kennedy

could.
    So she returned to the cave and ducked inside to check on her friend. Gareth sat on one of his stools, twisting together tough strands of thin, long leaves to form a sort of net. Several empty shells sat on the table in front of him, and Nell snored loud enough to make them tremble.
    “There’s spears, of a sort, back in the corner,” he said with a glance up at her. “Jab the creatures in the soft part between the shell to capture them. I haven’t seen any cool springs to net fish, but when I return, I shall look. In the meantime, you can use this to bag your prey.” He held up the sturdy-looking net.
    Millicent flicked her tail and gave him a look.
    “Your lip is bleeding,” he said. “And so are several other places on your paws. I just thought it might be easier to hunt in human form. With a spear, you don’t get close enough for them to pinch you with their claws.”
    He made a good point. She turned in a circle until she found a comfortable position and sat, licking the wound on her right paw. Those claws bit deep.
    When she looked up again, he had disappeared.
    Millicent should have realized that the relic would take him soon. The work he’d done to make the cave a home must have taken many hours.
    “So the magic man is gone, eh?”
    Millicent shifted to human and turned. “Magic man?”
    Nell sat up and nodded her head. “In more ways ’n one, I suspect.” She sniffed and then grimaced. “I stink.”
    Millicent’s lip quirked. Leave it to Nell to get to the important things first. “There’s a pool not too far from here where the water is but warm.”
    “As opposed to boiling our skin off, I suppose.” Nell rose and hobbled over to the entrance of the cave. “Although that might not be so bad. Ye know, the bastard never gave me enough water to bathe. That was worse’n the food he gave me.”
    A haze of red covered Millicent’s eyes and she tamped down the fury of her cat. It took her a few moments to speak again. “Can you walk, Nell? It isn’t far.”
    “Course I can. Blast, I ain’t no hothouse flower. Whichaway?”
    Millicent led her down the path and through the trees to the spot she’d found when hunting. A large pool spread out and disappeared beneath an overhang of rock, only a few lazy wisps of vapor rising from the surface of the water. She helped Nell up the pitted rock sides that surrounded it, and they both slid in with all their clothes on.
    They soaked for a time, just enjoying the feel of the warm water. The flowers Gareth had picked for their table grew around the pool, their pearly light dampening some of the colorful emerald glow of the surrounding forest. Unlike Gareth, Nell didn’t look one whit attractive with green-hued skin, and that red hair had combined with the emerald to make a muddy shade of yellow.
    They helped each other undress and then washed their clothes as best they could, pounding and ringing the dirt from the fabric. Millicent slammed the creaky corset the duke had given her especially hard against the rocks, unconcerned about the silken sheen, only determined to make it a bit more flexible.
    She envied Nell’s timeworn corset. There was an advantage to wearing cast-off clothing.
    “How long we got until they find us?” asked Nell as they spread their clothing along the rock to dry as best as it could in the humid air.
    “Maybe never. We’re deep into the wilds of the Underground.”
    “Ach, my gel. Ghoulston won’t stop looking as long as ye wear that.”
    Millicent scowled at the bracelet on her wrist. The moonstone imbedded in it winked mockingly back at her. “I should have at least a few days to figure a way to get it off.”
    Nell shrugged, a myriad of wrinkles appearing with the movement. “The knight ain’t so bad, though. I could think of worse fates than bedding such a looker.”
    “Not me.”
    Those violet eyes studied her with unblinking intensity. “Ye won’t wind up like yer mum, Millie.”
    “Hmph. You can’t know