Maybe a mechanic of some sorts.

The circle of bronze around the man’s neck suggested that he was a slave, but the guards ignored him. In fact, the only Egyptians atop the open deck were the two guards and the skymaster. Everyone else—including the man who ran the balloon’s forges—wore collars.

“So?” the old man pressed with a wry smile. “I heard you were new here. I don’t suppose anyone has said welcome.”

“No.” Jake found a grin pulling up the corners of his lips.

“Then let me be the first.” He lifted an arm to encompass the entire desert. “Welcome to the land of Deshret, where life is hard and the only escape is death.”

Pindor groaned. “Thanks. We really needed to hear that.”

But the man had never stopped smiling, as if mocking the meaning of his words. “Name’s Politor. But my friends call me Pol. It’s up to me to see that this old girl keeps flying.”

“Then shouldn’t you be doing that,” Kady said. She had slumped close to the deck, out of the wind, and out of view of the passing landscape.

“Oh, she’ll take care of herself. Don’t you worry. And don’t you worry about them Gypts.” He thumbed over to the guards. “They really aren’t so bad.”

“But they’re keeping you as slaves!” Marika said.

He shrugged. “Don’t really mean nothing. They keep to themselves in Ka-Tor. We have our own section of the city. Just like us, they have their duties—seeing to the big picture, making sure everything runs, that everyone is fed and has clean water, keeping up defenses against the big tooths-and-claws out there—and we have our jobs. All in all, those Gypts work for us as much as we work for them.”

“So they don’t own you?” Marika asked.

Politor snorted. “They might like to think that sometimes, but of course not. We outnumber the Gypts two to one. They try to get too full of themselves, we’ll pop their balloon.” He winked toward the bag of hot air holding them up. “Plus there be laws and rules. We get on together as long as each knows his place. Have to if you want to survive out here. It’s why we learned to take to the skies. Way too dangerous to cross the lands of Deshret on foot—especially at night.”

Jake nodded, remembering the cactus creatures and the raptors. He realized that maybe this place wasn’t so different from Calypsos after all. It wasn’t so much a slave-and-master relationship with the Egyptians, but more like a class system, with a division of labor to serve the common good. Everybody had a job to do to keep things running.

A shadow seemed to fall over Politor’s face. “But you’ve come to us at a dark time, I’m afraid. With the pharaoh lost to an endless dream—and his two daughters so young—things have begun to change. The Blood of Ka grows more powerful across our lands.”

“The Blood of Ka?” Jake asked.