Some 25ish years ago I read one of my fathers sci-fi books.
On the cover was some sort of 6 legged work animal pulling a big wagon. the animal was sort of dinosaur/elephant/bull like if I recall correctly.
the story was about some human astronauts who arrived at an alien planet (dont remember how they got there)
They crashed their shuttle on the planet. There were some humans(?) there who fought with flexible sabers and triangular sharp shields. There were also some lizard like humanoids involved in the story, keeping others as slaves.
The animal on the cover was used for labor and food, I think they cut off meat from those while they were still alive.
as stated above, this was some 25-30 years ago so I don't know how accurate my description is here.
I don't recall much more of it, but it was my first sci-fi book and I would really like to know what it was.. (small paperback maybe 200 pages, really don't remember any details)