Dipple Series by Andre Norton

The big cat cried "danger!" Troy Horan heard it with his mind just as he had heard the fox's warning and the kinkajou's. He didn't understand how he could communicate with the animals or why they were contacting him. But from the moment he began work at Kyger's pet emporium on Korwar he was enmeshed in a perilous intrigue.. moreThe big cat cried "danger!" Troy Horan heard it with his mind just as he had heard the fox's warning and the kinkajou's. He didn't understand how he could communicate with the animals or why they were contacting him. But from the moment he began work at Kyger's pet emporium on Korwar he was enmeshed in a perilous intrigue... an intrigue that would leave more than one man dead, an entire government in jeopardy, and Horan himself both master and captive of the most extraordinary band of warriors his world had ever known. less

The story concerns Nik Colherne, who aids in a kidnapping to win a new face to replace his scarred one. He gets his new face and fights to free the kidnapped boy - and himself - from the Thieves Guild. It is a rattling good adventure story which should be relished by science-fiction buffs of all ages

The planet Korwar was a glittering jewel of a world, home to the galaxy's wealthiest, but the jewel has a flaw: the slum called the Dipple, where the misfits, the hopeless, the penniless eke out a wretched existence. Two young men, Troy Horan and Nik Kolherne, hoped to escape.