The land

After a terrible holocaust 300 years before, only the Land survives. Tayla, crown princess of the realm, senses a secret bond between the sisters and the beasts of burden who serve them. Unlike cows, horses, and swine, these two-legged beasts are treated with extreme cruelty and contempt. They are either worked to death or ritually slaughtered. It is not until Tayla finds the ancient texts that she realizes who and what the beasts are. The ancient ones called them men!