Manhounds of Antares

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Manhounds of Antares is a science fiction adventure by British writer Kenneth Bulmer, written under the pen name Alan Burt Akers. It is the sixth Dray Prescot novel and the first book in the Havilfar Cycle, set on the world of Kregen in the Antares star system. The book was first published in 1974 by DAW Books in the United States, with cover art by Jack Gaughan. A German edition appeared in 1976 as Die Menschenjäger von Antares, and an e-book edition was released in 2006.

Plot in brief: The story follows on directly from Prince of Scorpio. Dray Prescot and his partner Delia return to Vallia’s capital, Vondium, after a successful campaign. They marry, and Prescot helps his friends Inch and Seg receive titles from the Emperor. On their wedding night they are attacked by assassins, but Prescot survives and Delia becomes pregnant with twins, Drak and Lela. Soon after, Prescot is seized again by the Star Lords and taken to the island of Faol in northern Havilfar as a slave in a hunting pen.

There, slaves are hunted by wealthy Canops and Khamorro hunters. Prescot and a fellow slave named Lilah of Hyrklana are chosen for the hunt. He encounters the Jiklos, dog-like hunters, and learns that the guides who supposedly aid escapes are really helping the slave masters. Prescot repeatedly rescues others but is dragged back to the pens each time. He eventually believes the real target is Mog the Migla, an old non-human slave who is the Miglas’ high priestess, and he forms alliances with Turko the Khamorro and Rapechak the Rapa.

The group escapes to Yamman, the Migla capital, which has been conquered by the Canops—humans who worship a silver Leem creature. Prescot clashes with Canops forces, frees his friends, and defeats two Kamorros in hand-to-hand combat. They flee downriver, losing Rapachak in the process. The Gdoinye spirit returns and tasks Prescot with freeing Migla and restoring Mog to her position. Although saddened that he cannot return to Delia and their children, Prescot agrees to return to Yamman to begin the mission to free Migla and reclaim Mog.