Sunset calmly looked around for a trace of her Dad. At first, she couldn't see anything to follow, and her own physical senses weren't strong enough to track him that way. As she felt despair and loneliness starting to creep up on her, however, she felt an odd hum from her mother's staff. Holding it out, she saw one end glow faintly. When she turned it around so it pointed the other way, the other end glowed faintly.
Following the glow, she saw that the crystals on the staff glowed as they detected the magical traces of her father's passage, the end pointing in the way he went - or in this case, was carried or dragged - glowing brighter than the other. Moving carefully, she followed it to an area that was set much deeper into the structure of the Fortress than the rest.
As she went that way, Sunset felt like smacking herself in the face as she realized where she was going. The prison! Of course! It was part of the Fortress that she and Tricky had explored when they were younger, and they'd had quite a bit of fun in there since the walled passages were designed to be difficult for Cloudrunners to maneuver, making it the perfect area for hide and seek when there weren't any prisoners. If Sharpclaws had conquered the Fortress, it would only make sense for them to take prisoners to the prison.
Once she knew where she was going, she stopped using the staff to track her Father's passage. Instead, she once more synchronized her sunstones with the staff's crystals, making her vanish anew. If Dad's in the prison, he'll be guarded, she thought to herself. If he's guarded, I can't let myself be seen.
Ducking into a nearby wall corner, she found what she was looking for. The Fortress had not been built by the Cloudrunners, anymore than the Temples had been built by the Earthwalkers or any other tribe. All these ancient buildings were made by the Krazoa, and left behind for the Dinosaur Tribes to use and claim for their own. While they were incredibly sturdy and had stood for ages, some small bits and pieces had started to crumble. As a result, the structure was honeycombed with small tunnels through the walls of the interior. Too small for even the youngest Cloudrunner to spread their wings in and thus ignored...but perfect size for a young equine or Earthwalker who loved to explore. Sunset knew every tunnel like the back of her hand, and with her Mom's staff now strapped to her back in its smallest size, she crawled along the path that barely left room for her, far too small for even the smallest Sharpclaw to get into, and too twisting for their drones to maneuver.
As she approached where she knew she could exit into the prison, she heard her Dad's voice speaking Cornerian, the translator off. "Krystal's staff! It's not here...Sunset must have it. Well, I'm going to be in trouble without it...but I'm too unguarded here. I know I can't get out easily without the staff, but this is just asking for Sunset to break me out...which means I'm bait. General Scales must expect her to immediately try and break me free, so he's probably got some way of dealing with her magic power without making her useless to him...probably a sonic weapon to destabilize her sunstones when she tries to use her magic, that feedback would be seriously unpleasant." He chuckled softly. "He may be smart...but I'd lay credits to croutons Sunset's smarter. It may be hard for me to escape without the Staff, but not impossible...especially if Sunset's off rallying the Cloudrunners to drive Scales' troops nuts. Not only that, Krystal's psychic impression is in her staff, and it won't let anyone but me or Sunset hold it. All I have to do is find it, and then they'll be sorry..."
Sunset couldn't stop the grin that crossed her face. Her Dad knew she would be trying to rescue him...and so had made sure she would hear him 'rambling' about what she should be doing instead. She lightly rapped a code her Uncle Falco had taught her, one that he'd apparently used with her Dad when they were younger to say 'Message Received'.
Her Dad chuckled again. "These Sharpclaws won't know what hit them..."
Sunset quickly made her way back out of the tunnels, and looked around the main part of the Fortress. Quite a few Sharpclaws and drones wandered around on all levels, and Sunset could see that the wind lifts that connected the various levels for those who could not fly were down. Sunset knew she could easily levitate herself wherever she needed to go, but there would be no way to hide the glow of her horn or her own aura, and it would be taxing. Not only that, if her Dad had been right about Scales having a weapon to target her sunstones while she was casting, relying on her magic like that was asking for trouble. She needed some way to be able to move freely through the Fortress without flying or glowing...
An odd thought percolated through her mind. She couldn't fly freely, but climbing? She let that thought grow in her mind, gently encouraging it while not focusing overmuch on it for fear of losing the spell she could feel forming from seizing it too strongly.
Leaning forward, she cupped her hands under the tip of her horn...and liquid magic dripped from the tip into her palms, glowing golden with the spell she'd crafted. Rubbing the liquid into the palms of her hands, she then bent down to coat her hooves with it as well. Turning, she placed her hands against the nearest wall. Then one hoof. Then the other hoof...
She grinned as she hung suspended from the wall, her enchantment letting her cling spider-like to the surface with hands and hooves. Moving quickly but carefully, she raced up the wall to the platform overhead before moving across the underside of the platform. This was a rather crazy idea, as if anyone looked up she was dead since she couldn't defend herself from this position without losing the climbing enchantment. Not only that, if she lost focus or grabbed the wrong spot, she would fall and make a lot of noise...and if she tried to climb the underside of a platform that extended off the edge of the Fortress, or along the outer wall and made such a mistake...
Why did that sound so exciting?