The Beast Master

 

By Andre Norton

The war with the Xik was finally over and humankind won but at the cost of the complete destruction of planet Earth. Hosteen Storm was a Galactic Commando and Beast Master in the galactic Confederacy and now that the war is over, he has no home to go back to. He chose to be repatriated on Arzor because it has a climate similar to his Navajo homeland. His four "beasts" will be with him, as the military as no further use for them. They are Surra, a dune cat; Baku, an African black eagle; and two meercats, Ho and Hing. 

Arzor is a frontier world and it has a native population referred to as Norbies. They are tall, thin humanoids with yellow skin and horns. They can't speak human language and humans can't speak their language so they communicate by using sign language. The Norbies are hunter/gatherer people that live in tribal groups scattered across the planet. They have accepted the presence of humans settlers. Humans activities on the planet consist mainly of ranching the local herd beasts. So basically it's the Old West, revisited.

Hosteen has another purpose in coming to Arzor. He is on the trail of a man, Brad Quade, from Arzor who killed his father when Hosteen was little. 

Hosteen's skill with horses quickly lands him a job and earns him the respect of the locals. And his work with his animal companions impresses him employers even more. One of his fellow workers is a Norbie, Gorgol who becomes Hosteen's friend and who teaches him the sign language Norbies and humans use to communicate. 

Once Hosteen and his new employer and company are on the trail, they run into trouble when they get caught in a heavy downburst. The valley they are in quickly floods and only Gorgol and Hosteen manage to survive. They rest are swept away along with most of the supplies. But both Gorgol and Hosteen are no strangers to surviving on their own. They bury the bodies of their companions and set out to find a way out of the deadly valley. But before they can, Hosteen discovers that the Xik, who he thought had been thoroughly defeated, have a secret base on Arzor. And that they are trying to foment a war between the Norbies and the human settlers. 

This is pretty much just a frontier Western, with the settlers as the cowboys and the Norbies as the Natives. With the twist that the Navajo man is the cowboy who sympathizes with and understands the Natives. Frankly, I found the story boring.

Here is a review by Kirkus. This is their review from 1959 and they refer to the author as he. Andre Norton was the author's pen name. Her real name was Alice Norton.