Paga

Then I encountered the girl in a paga tavern in Lydius; she had fallen slave.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 17

The next few days were among the happiest of my life, as Talena and I became a part of Mintar's slow, ample caravan, members of its graceful, interminable, colorful procession. It seemed the routine of the journey would never end, and I grew enamored of the long line of wagons, each filled with its various goods, those mysterious metals and gems, rolls of cloth, foodstuffs, wines and Paga, weapons and harness, cosmetics and perfumes, medicines and slaves.

Mintar's caravan, like most, was harnessed long before dawn and traveled until the heat of the day. Camp would be made early in the afternoon. The beasts would be watered and fed, the guards set, the wagons secured, and the members of the caravan would turn to their cooking fires. In the evening the strap-masters and warriors would amuse themselves with stories and songs, recounting their exploits, fictitious and otherwise, and bawling out their raucous harmonies under the influence of Paga.
Tarnsman of Gor     Book 1     Page 124


We watched in one stall a bronzed giant apparently swallowing balls of fire, in the next a silk merchant crying the glories of his cloth, in another a hawker of Paga; in still another we watched the swaying bodies of dancing slave girls as their master proclaimed their rent price.
Tarnsman of Gor     Book 1     Page 132


Kazrak looked at me in disbelief. "Are you rid of your senses?" he asked. "The fall of Ar will be Ka-la-na wine to the free cities of Gor. When Ar falls, there will be rejoicing in the streets. When Ar falls, the bridges will be hung with garlands, there will be free Paga, slaves will be freed, enemies will pledge friendship."
Tarnsman of Gor     Book 1     Pages 180 - 181


I had been outwitted by the brilliance of Pa-Kur. It was with a heart filled with bitterness that I left the compound of the Assassin and returned to Kazrak's tent. In the next days, frequenting the Paga tents and markets, I sought, by cornering slaves and challenging swordsmen, to learn the whereabouts of Talena.
Tarnsman of Gor     Book 1     Page 185


I decided, if worse came to worst, that I could always go to a simple Paga Tavern where, if those of Tharna resembled those of Ko-ro-ba and Ar, one might, curled in a rug behind the low tables, unobtrusively spend the night for the price of a pot of Paga, a strong, fermented drink brewed from the yellow grains of Gor's staple crop, Sa-Tarna, or Life-Daughter. The expression is related to Sa-Tassna, the expression for meat, or for food in general, which means Life-Mother. Paga is a corruption of Pagar-Sa-Tarna, which means Pleasure of the Life-Daughter. It was customary to find diversions other than Paga in the Paga Taverns, as well, but in gray Tharna the cymbals, drums and flutes of the musicians, the clashing of bangles on the ankles of dancing girls would be unfamiliar sounds.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Pages 74 - 75

"Is there no Paga Tavern near," I asked, "where I can find rest?"

"There are no Paga Taverns in Tharna," said the man, I thought with a trace of amusement.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 75


I descended the low, wide steps to the interior. This time the shop was crowded. It was hard to see where to step. It was wild and noisy. It might have been a Paga Tavern of Ko-ro-ba or Ar, not a simple Kal-da shop of Tharna. My ears were assailed by the din, the jovial uproar of men no longer afraid to laugh or shout.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 223


I wondered at this for the Caste of Musicians had been, like the Caste of Poets, exiled from Tharna. Theirs, like the Caste of Poets, had been a caste regarded by the sober masks of Tharna as not belonging in a city of serious and dedicated folk, for music, like Paga and song, can set men's hearts aflame and when men's hearts are aflame it is not easy to know where the flame may spread.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 224


Perhaps she would find herself confined within the walls of some warrior's Pleasure Gardens, to be dressed in silk of his choosing, to have bells locked on her ankles and to know no will other than his; perhaps she would be purchased by the master of a Paga Tavern, or even of a lowly Kal-da shop, to dance for, and to serve and please his customers.
Outlaw of Gor     Book 2     Page 244


I wondered why there was only water to drink, and none of the fermented beverages of Gor, such as Paga, Ka-la-na wine or Kal-da.
Priest-Kings of Gor     Book 3     Page 45


Surely I had enjoyed the scent of flowers and women, of hot, fresh bread, roasted meat, Paga and wines, harness leather, the oil with which I protected the blade of my sword from rust, of green fields and storm winds, but seldom had I considered the sense of smell in the way one would consider that of vision or touch, and yet it too had its often neglected store of information ready for the man who was ready to make use of it.
Priest-Kings of Gor     Book 3     Page 56


The women I had owned, Sana, Talena, Lara, and others of whom I have not written, Passion Slaves rented for the hour in the Paga Taverns of Ko-ro-ba and Ar, Pleasure Slaves bestowed on me in token of hospitality for a night spent in a friend's compartments, had known that I was master and that had been sufficient.
Priest-Kings of Gor     Book 3     Page 234


I shot the spiced vulo brain into my mouth on the tip of a golden eating prong, a utensil, as far as I knew, unique to Turia. I took a large swallow of fierce Paga, washing it down as rapidly as possible.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 83


I could pick up snatches of conversation between Kamchak and Saphrar, and I gathered from what was said that they were negotiating places of meeting for the exchange of goods. Then, later in the evening, when I was drunker on Paga than I should have permitted myself to become, I heard them discuss details which could only have pertained to what Kamchak had called the games of Love War, details having to do with specifications of time, weapons and judges, and such. Then I heard the sentence, "If she is to participate, you must deliver the golden sphere."
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 90


Kamchak was now swilling Paga and acted as though he had not heard the remark of Kamras.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 95


Then he took his goblet of Paga and drained it, watching the girls swaying to the caress of Turian melodies.
. . .
Kamchak was swilling down another bolt of Paga, part of it running out at the side of his mouth.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 97


We then spat to determine who would bargain for a bottle of Paga. By starting from the side and turning his head quickly, Kamchak bested me by some eighteen inches. In the light of his skill my own effort seemed depressingly naive, quite simple-minded, unimaginative and straightforward. I had not known about the head-twisting trick. The wily Tuchuk, of course, had had me spit first.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Pages 111 - 112


For all his uproarious stomping about the wagon last night, Paga bottle in hand, singing gusty Tuchuk songs, half frightening Miss Cardwell to death, he seemed in good spirits, looking about, whistling, occasionally pounding a little rhythm on the side of his saddle.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 112


The public slave wagons, incidentally, also provide Paga. They are a kind of combination Paga tavern and slave market. I know of nothing else precisely like them on Gor. Kamchak and I had visited one last night where I had ended up spending four copper tarn disks for one bottle of Paga.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 118

After this Kamchak and I left the wagon and wandered about, stopping at one of the slave wagons for a bottle of Paga, which, while wandering about, we killed between us.

This year, as it turned out, the Wagon Peoples had done exceedingly well in the games of Love War, a bit of news we picked up with the Paga and about seventy percent of the Turian maidens had been led slave from the stakes to which they had been manacled. In some years I knew the percentages were rather the other way about. It apparently made for zestful competition. We also heard that the wench Hereena, of the First Wagon, had been won by a Turian officer representing the house of Saphrar of the Merchants, to whom, for a fee, he presented her. I gathered that she would become another of his dancing girls. "A bit of perfume and silk will be good for that wench," stated Kamchak. It seemed strange to think of her, so wild and insolent, arrogant on the back of her kaiila, now a perfumed, silken slave of Turians. "She could use a bit of whip and steel, that wench," Kamchak muttered between swallows of Paga, pretty much draining the bottle. It was too bad, I thought, but at least I supposed there would be one fellow among the wagons, the young man Harold, he whom the girl had so abused, he who had not yet won the Courage Scar, who would be just as pleased as not that she, with all her contempt and spleen, was now delightfully salted away in bangles and bells behind the high, thick walls of a Turian's pleasure garden.

Kamchak had circled around and we found ourselves back at the slave wagon.

We decided to wager to see who would get the second bottle of Paga.

"What about the flight of birds?" asked Kamchak.

"Agreed," I said, "but I have first choice."

"Very well," he said.

I knew, of course, that it was spring and, in this hemisphere, most birds, if there were any migrating, would be moving south. "South," I said.

"North," he said.

We then waited about a minute, and I saw several birds - river gulls flying north.

"Those are Vosk gulls," said Kamchak, "In the spring, when the ice breaks in the Vosk, they fly north."

I fished some coins out of my pouch for the Paga.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 137


When the meat was ready Kamchak ate his fill, and drank down, too, a flagon of bosk milk; I did the same, though the milk, at least for me, did not sit too well with the Paga of the afternoon.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Pages 138 - 139


I followed Kamchak down the steps of the wagon and, blinking and still sensible of the effects of the Paga, gravely held open the large dung sack near the rear left wheel of the wagon. "No, Master!" the girl wept.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 144

Inside the enclosure, over against one side, I saw the slave wagon. The bosk had been unhitched and taken elsewhere. It was open and one could go in and purchase a bottle of Paga if one cared to do so.

"One is thirsty," said Kamchak.

"I'll buy the Paga," I said.

Kamchak shrugged. He had, after all, bought the admissions.

When I returned with the bottle I had to step through, over, and once or twice on, Tuchuks. Fortunately my clumsiness was not construed as a challenge. One fellow I stepped on was even polite enough to say, "Forgive me for sitting where you are stepping." In Tuchuk fashion, I assured him that I had taken no offense, and, sweating, I at last made my way to Kamchak's side. He had rather good seats, which hadn't been there before, obtained by the Tuchuk method of finding two individuals sitting closely together and then sitting down between them. He had also parked Aphris on his right and Elizabeth on his left. I bit out the cork in the Paga and passed it past Elizabeth to Kamchak, as courtesy demanded. About a third of the bottle was missing when Elizabeth, looking faint at having smelled the beverage, returned it to me.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 154


I noted that, in spite of the fact that Aphris had now been in the wagon for several days, Kamchak had not yet called for the Iron Master. The girl had neither been branded nor had the Tuchuk nose ring been affixed. This seemed to me of interest. Moreover, after the first day or two he had hardly cuffed the girl, though he had once beaten her rather severely when she had dropped a cup. Now I saw that, though she had been only a few days his slave, already he was permitting her to wear the camisk. I smiled rather grimly to myself and took a significant swallow of Paga. "Wily Tuchuk, eh?" I thought to myself.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 155

Kamchak reached across Elizabeth and dragged the Paga bottle out of my hand. Then he was wrestling with Aphris and had her head back, fingers pinching her nose, the neck of the bottle thrust between her teeth. She was struggling and laughing and shaking her head. Then she had to breathe and a great draught of Paga burned its way down her throat making her gasp and cough. I doubt that she had ever before experienced a drink stronger than the syrupy wines of Turia. She was now gasping and shaking her head and Kamchak was pounding her on the back.

"Why?" I again asked Elizabeth.

But Elizabeth, with her free left hand had seized the Paga bottle from Kamchak, and, to his amazement, had thrown back her head and taken, without realizing the full import of her action, about five lusty, guzzling swallows of Paga. Then, as I rescued the bottle, her eyes opened very wide and then blinked about ten times. She exhaled slowly as if fire might be sizzling out instead of breath and then she shook, a delayed reaction, as if she had been thumped five times and then began to cough spasmodically and painfully until I, fearing she might suffocate, pounded her several times on the back. At last, bent over, gasping for breath, she seemed to be coming around. I held her by the shoulders and suddenly she turned herself in my hands and, as I was sitting cross-legged, threw herself on her back across my lap, her right wrist still chained to her left ankle. She stretched insolently, as well as she could. I was astounded. She looked up at me. "Because I am better than Dina and Tenchika," she said.

"But not better than Aphris," called Aphris.

"Yes," said Elizabeth, "better than Aphris."

"Get up, Little She-Sleen," said Kamchak, amused, "or to preserve my honor I must have you impaled."

Elizabeth looked up at me.

"She's drunk," I told Kamchak.

"Some men might like a barbarian girl," Elizabeth said.

I hoisted Elizabeth back up on her knees. "No one will buy me," she wailed.

There were immediate offers from three or four of the Tuchuks gathered about, and I was afraid that Kamchak might, if the bids improved, part with Miss Cardwell on the spot.

"Sell her," advised Aphris.

"Be quiet, Slave," said Elizabeth.

Kamchak was roaring with laughter.

The Paga had apparently hit Miss Cardwell swiftly and hard. She seemed barely able to kneel and, at last, I permitted her to lean against me, and she did, her chin on my right shoulder.

"You know," said Kamchak, "the Little Barbarian wears your chain well."

"Nonsense," I said.

"I saw," said Kamchak, "how at the games when you thought the men of Turia charging you were prepared to rescue the wench."

"I wouldn't have wanted your property damaged," I said.

"You like her," announced Kamchak.

"Nonsense," I said to him.

"Nonsense," said Elizabeth, sleepily.

"Sell her to him," recommended Aphris, hiccupping.

"You only want to be First Girl," said Elizabeth.

"I'd give her away myself," said Aphris. "She is only a barbarian."
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Pages 157 - 158


"I never knew a woman," said Elizabeth, her eyes blazing, showing few signs of the Paga, "could be so beautiful!"
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 161

For no reason that I am quite sure of I unwisely purchased another bottle of Paga, perhaps for company in my lonely walk.

I was only about a quarter of the way through the bottle and was passing the side of a wagon when I saw a swift flicker of a shadow suddenly leap on the lacquered boards and by instinct I threw my head to one side as a quiva flashed past and buried itself three inches deep in the timber side of the wagon. Flinging the Paga bottle aside, a swirl of the liquid flying out of it, I whirled and saw, some fifty feet away, between two wagons, the dark figure of the hooded man, he of the Clan of Torturers, who had been following me. He turned and ran, and I, drawing my sword, ran stumbling after him but in less than a moment or two I found my pursuit cut short by a string of tied kaiila being returned after having been released to hunt on the plains. By the time I could manage to avoid their buffeting bodies and crawl under the rope that joined them, my assailant was gone. All I received for my trouble were the angry shouts of the man leading the kaiila string. Indeed, one of the vicious beasts even snapped at me, ripping the sleeve on my shoulder.

Angry I returned to the wagon and drew the quiva from the boards.

By this time the owner of the wagon, who was naturally curious about the matter, was beside me. He held a small torch, lit from the fire bowl within the wagon. He was examining, not happily, the cut in his planking. "A clumsy throw," he remarked, I thought a bit ill-humoredly.

"Perhaps," I admitted.

"But," he added, turning and looking at me, "I suppose under the circumstances it was just as well."

"Yes," I said, "I think so."

I found the Paga bottle and noted that there was a bit of liquid left in it, below the neck of the bottle. I wiped off the neck and handed it to the man. He took about half of it and then wiped his mouth and handed it back. I then finished the bottle. I flung it into a refuse hole, dug and periodically cleaned by male slaves.

"It is not bad Paga," said the man.

"No," I said, "I think it is pretty good."
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Pages 164 - 165


We lunched on dried bosk meat and Paga . . .
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 170


"I," said Kamchak, "would like a bottle of Paga."
"I, too," I admitted.
"Who will buy?" he asked.
I refused to speak.
"We could wager," he suggested.
"I'll buy it," I said.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 172

It was toward dark when Kamchak and I reached the slave wagon to buy our bottle of Paga.

On the way we passed a girl, a girl from Cos taken hundreds of pasangs away in a raid on a caravan bound for Ar. She had been bound across a wagon wheel lying on the ground, her body over its hub. Her clothing had been removed. Fresh and clean on her burned thigh was the brand of the four bosk horns. She was weeping. The Iron Master affixed the Turian collar. He bent to his tools, taking up a tiny, open golden ring, a heated metal awl, a pair of pliers. I turned away. I heard her scream.

"Do not Korobans brand and collar slaves?" asked Kamchak.

"Yes," I admitted, "they do."

I could not rid my mind of the image of the girl from Cos weeping bound on the wheel. Such tonight, or on another night, would be the lovely Elizabeth Cardwell. I threw down a wild swallow of Paga. I resolved I would somehow release the girl, somehow protect her from the cruelty of the fate decreed for her by Kamchak.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 173


I took back the Paga bottle and threw down another swallow.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 174

"Are you not going to your wagon tonight?" he asked.

"I think not," I said.

"As you wish," said he, "but I have had it well stocked with Paga and Ka-la-na wines from Ar and such."

In Turia, even though we had much of the riches of the city at our disposal, there had not been much Paga or Ka-la-na wine. As I may have mentioned the Turians, on the whole, favor thick, sweet wines. I had taken, as a share of battle loot, a hundred and ten bottles of Paga and forty bottles of Ka-la-na wine from Tyros, Cos and Ar, but these I had distributed to my crossbowmen, with the exception of one bottle of Paga which Harold and I had split some two nights ago. I decided I might spend the night in my wagon.

Two nights ago it had been a night for Paga. Tonight, I felt, was a night for Ka-la-na. I was pleased to learn there would be some in the wagon.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 275


I was puzzled. "I am sure," I muttered, "we can figure out something." I refilled my wine bowl Elizabeth did not wish more. I noted she had scarcely sipped what she had been given. I tossed down a swallow of Ka-la-na, thinking perhaps that it was a night for Paga after all.
Nomads of Gor     Book 4     Page 284

At a Paga Tavern, one near the great gate, cheap and crowded, dingy and smelling, a place frequented by strangers and small Merchants, the Assassin took the girl by the arm and thrust her within. There were three musicians against one wall.

They stopped playing. The slave girls in Pleasure Silk turned and stood stock still, the Paga flasks cradled over their right forearms. Not even the bells locked to their left ankles made a sound. Not a paga bowl was lifted nor a hand moved. The men looked at the Assassin, who regarded them, one by one. Men turned white under that gaze. Some fled from the tables, lest, unknown to themselves, it be they for whom this man wore the mark of the black dagger.

The Assassin turned to the man in a black apron, a fat, grimy man, who wore a soiled tunic of white and gold, stained with sweat and spilled paga.

"Collar," said the Assassin.

The man took a key from a line of hooks on the wall behind him.

"Seven," he said, throwing the Assassin the key.

The Assassin caught the key and taking the girl by the arm led her to a dark wall, in a low-ceilinged corner of the sloping room. She moved woodenly, as though numb. Her eyes seemed frightened.

There were one or two other girls there, kneeling, who drew back, with a sound of chain.

He thrust the dark-haired girl to her knees by the seventh collar and snapped it about her neck, turning the key, locking it. It gave her about a two-foot length of chain, fastened to a slave ring bolted into the stone. Then he looked down on her. Her eyes were lifted to his, frightened. The yellow of her livery seemed dark in the shadows. From where she knelt she could see the low-hanging tharlarion oil lamps of the main portion of the Paga tavern, the men, the girls in silk who, in a moment, belled, would move among them, replenishing the paga. In the under a hanging lamp, there was a square area, recessed, filled with sand, in which men might fight or girls dance. Beyond the area of the sand and the many tables there was a high wall, some twenty feet or so high, in which there were four levels, each containing seven small curtained alcoves, the entrances to which were circular, with a diameter of about twenty-four inches. Seven narrow ladders, each about eight inches in width, fixed into the wall, gave access to these alcoves.

She saw Kuurus go to the tables and sit cross-legged behind one, a table against the wall on her left, that there might be no tables behind him, but only the wall.

The men who had been at that table, or near it, silently rose and left the area.

Kuurus had placed his spear against the wall behind him, and he had taken from his left shoulder his shield, his helmet and the sheathed short sword, which blade he had placed at his right hand on the low table.

At a gesture from the proprietor, the grimy man in the tunic of white and gold, one of the serving slaves, with a flash of her ankle bells, hurried to the Assassin and set before him a bowl, which she trembling filled from the flask held over her right forearm. Then, with a furtive glance at the girl chained at the side of the room, the serving slave hurried away.

Kuurus took the paga bowl in both hands and put his head down, looking into it.

Then, somberly, he lifted it to his lips and drank.

Putting the bowl down he wiped his mouth on his forearm and looked at the Musicians. "Play," he said.

The three Musicians bent to their instruments, and, in a moment, there were again the sounds of a paga tavern, the sounds of talk, of barbaric music, of pouring paga, the clink of bowls, the rustle of bells on the ankles of slave girls.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Pages 7 - 9

"It is Hup the Fool," said someone.

The little thing, misshapen with its large head, scrambled limping and leaping like a broken-legged urt to the counter behind which stood the man in the grimy tunic, who was wiping out a paga bowl. "Hide Hup!" cried the thing. "Hide Hup! Please hide Hup!"

"Be off with you, Hup the Fool!" cried the man slapping at him with the back of his hand.

"No!" screamed Hup. "They want to kill Hup!"

"There is no place for beggars in Glorious Ar," growled one of the men at the tables.

Hup's rag might once have been of the Caste of Potters, but it was difficult to tell. His hands looked as though they might have been broken. Clearly one leg was shorter than the other. Hup wrung his tiny, misshapen hands, looking about. He tried foolishly to hide behind a group of men but they threw him to the center of the pit of sand in the tavern. He tried, like a frantic animal, to crawl under one of the low tables but he only spilled the paga and the men pulled him out from under the table and belabored his back with blows of their fists. He kept whimpering and screaming, and running one place or the other. Then, in spite of the angry shout of the proprietor, he scrambled over the counter, taking refuge behind it.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 10

But his laugh died in his throat as he looked into the eyes of Kuurus, he of the Caste of Assassins.

Kuurus, with his left hand, pushed to one side his bowl of paga.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 12

"I am of the opinion," said the man, "that it is a good thing we have those in the black tunic back amongst us."

Kuurus nodded, accepting the judgment.

"Bring paga!" called the paunchy man imperiously, impatiently, to one of the girls, who hastened to obey him. Then he turned again to Kuurus, and smiled ingratiatingly. "It has been hard in Ar," said the man, "since the deposition of Kazrak of Port Kar as Administrator of the City, and since the murder of Om, the High Initiate of the City."
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 15

Kuurus lifted his paga bowl and drank.

"What has this to do with me?" he asked.

"For whom do you wear on your forehead the mark of the black dagger?" queried Portus discreetly.

Kuurus said nothing.

"Perhaps I could tell you where to find him," proposed Portus.

"I will find him," said Kuurus.

"Of course," said Portus. "Of course." The heavy man, sitting cross-legged, opposite the Assassin, began to sweat, fiddled with the damp blue and yellow silk covering his knee, and then with a nervous hand lifted a shaking bowl of paga to his lips, spilling some down the side of his face. "I meant no harm," he said.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 17


Portus hastily pushed his paga bowl up to his mouth, and swilled again, his eyes wary of the Assassin across from him.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 19


Portus pushed one finger around in a puddle of splashed paga on the low table.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 20


"I now understand," she said, "why it is that free women never enter Paga taverns."
"But you are only a slave girl," said Kuurus.
"True," she said forlornly, tuning her head to one side. Kuurus removed her slave livery.
The girl sat up, her eyes bright, holding her ankles with her hands.
"So this is what these places are like," she said, looking about her.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 22

Further, in order to gain Players, the master, if wise, occasionally loses a game, which is expensive at the normal odds; and the game must be lost subtly, that the amateur must believe he has won. I had once known a Warrior in Ko-ro-ba, a dull, watery-eyed fellow, who boasted of having beaten Quintus of Tor in a Paga Tavern in Thentis. Those who play the game for money have a hard lot, for the market is a buyer's market, and commonly men will play with them only on terms much to their satisfaction. I myself, when Centius of Cos was in Ko-ro-ba, might have played him on the bridge near the Cylinder of Warriors for only a pair of copper tarn disks. It seemed sad to me, that I, who knew so little of the game, could have so cheaply purchased the privilege of sitting across the board from such a master. It seemed to me that men should pay a tarn disk of gold just to be permitted to watch such a master play, but such were not the economic realities of the game.

In spite of having the respect, even to some degree the adulation, of almost all Goreans, the Players lived poorly. On the Street of Coins they found it difficult even to arrange loans. They were not popular with innkeepers, who would not shelter them unless paid in advance. Many were the nights a master would be found rolled in robes in a Paga tavern, where, for a bit of tarsk meat and a pot of paga, and an evening's free play with customers, he would be permitted to sleep.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 28


On the whole, however, the Players live extremely poorly. Further, there is a harsh competition among themselves, for positions in certain streets and on certain bridges. The most favorable locations for play are, of course, the higher bridges in the vicinity of the richer cylinders, the most expensive Paga taverns, and so on.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 29

"I come to avenge," I said, "Tarl Cabot, he of Ko-ro-ba."

There were cries of astonishment from the men-at-arms. I smiled to myself. I had little doubt but that in an Ahn the story would be in all the Paga taverns of Ar, on all the bridges and in all the cylinders.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 41


There were several chests in the room, including the iron-banded one with its heavy lock. There were also some cabinets against one wall, filled with plate and cups, some bottles of paga and Ka-la-na.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 53


During the time of the race the hawkers of candies, sweetmeats, Kal-da, pastries and paga were quiet, standing with their goods in the aisles watching.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 139


It was my intention to relax at the Capacian Baths, have a leisurely supper at some Paga tavern and then return to the House of Cernus.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Pages 147 - 148


The Tarn Keeper, who was called by those in the tavern Mip, bought the food, bosk steak and yellow bread, peas and Torian olives, and two golden-brown, starchy Suls, broken open and filled with melted bosk cheese. I bought the Paga, and several times we refilled our cups.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 168


"You are up late, Killer," said he.
"I could not sleep," I said.
"I thought those of the black caste slept the soundest of all men," said Cernus.
"It was something I ate," I said.
"Of course," said Cernus. "Was your hunt successful?"
"I have not yet found the man," I said.
"Oh," said Cernus.
"It was bad Paga," I said.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 181


During the days of the Waiting Hand the streets are almost deserted, and in the Houses there is much fasting, and little conversation, and no song. Rations even in the House of Cernus were halved during this period. Paga and Ka-la-na were not served. The slaves in the pens received almost nothing. Then, at dawn, on the first day of En'Kara, in the name of the city, the Administrator of Ar, or a Ubar if it be Ubar, greets the sun, welcoming it to Ar on the first day of the New Year. The great bars suspended about the walls of the city then ring out for more than an Ahn with their din, and the doors of the city burst open and the people crowd out onto the bridges, clad in the splendor of their finest, singing and laughing. The doors are painted green and the pitch washed away, and the branches of the Brak Bush burned in a small ceremony on the threshold. There are processions in the city that day, and songfests, and tournaments of the game, and recitations by poets, and contests and exhibitions. When the lanterns on the bridges must be lit the people return home, singing, carrying small lamps, and give the night over to feasting and love. Even the slaves in the iron pens in the House of Cernus received that day a small cake with oil and had their troughs filled with water mixed with Paga.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Pages 211 - 212

A Builder, whose robes were stained with thrown fruit, hastily strode by. "You had better be indoors," said he, "on Kajuralia."

Three male house slaves stumbled by, crowned with odorous garlands woven of the Brak Bush. They were passing about a bota of paga and, between dancing and trying to hold one another up, managed to weave unsteadily by. One of them looked at me and from his eyes I judged he may have seen at least three of me and offered me a swig of the bota, which I took. "Kajuralia," said he, nearly falling over backwards, being rescued by one of his fellows, who seemed fortunately to be falling in the opposite direction at the same time. I gave him a silver coin for more paga. "Kajuralia," I said, and turned about, leaving, while they collapsed on one another.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 223

Flaminius looked at me, with a certain drunken awe. Then he rose in his green quarters tunic and went to a chest in his room, from which he drew forth a large bottle of paga. He opened it and, to my surprise, poured two cups. He took a good mouthful of the fluid from one of the cups, and bolted it down, exhaling with satisfaction.

"You seem to me, from what I have seen and heard," I said, "a skilled Physician."

He handed me the second cup, though I wore the black tunic.

"In the fourth and fifth year of the reign of Marlenus," said he, regarding me evenly, "I was first in my caste in Ar."

I took a swallow.

"Then," said I, "you discovered paga?"

"No," said he.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 265

"Where is the Paga?" I demanded of one of the girls. Startled, I saw, now that she stood forth from the shadows, that she had no nose.

"There, Master!" said she, pointing to a basket of bottles under the large cutting table in the center of the room.

I went to the basket and took out a bottle, a large one.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 271

"It is Kajuralia," I said to him, simply. I held the bottle to him. "Kajuralia? he asked.

"Yes," I said.

He began to laugh, softly, hoarsely. "I was right," he said, "I was right."

"I do not understand," I said.

He began to suck at the bottle. There were few teeth left in his mouth; most had rotted and, apparently, snapped away, or had been broken off by him and discarded.

I forcibly drew the bottle from his mouth. I had no wish that he kill himself on the paga. I did not know what its shock would be to his system, after apparently months of torture, confinement, fear, poor food, the water, the urts. "I was right," he said, nodding his head.

"About what?" I asked.

"That today was Kajuralia," said he.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 276

I let him have another small swig at the paga bottle. "Somedays," he said, "I was not sure that I marked the wall, and then I would forget; sometimes I feared I had marked it twice."

"You were accurate," I said, regarding the carefully drawn scratches, the rows methodically laid out, the months, the five-day weeks, the passage hands.

I counted back the rows. Then I said, pointing to the first scratch, "This is the first day of En'Kara before the last En'Kara."

The toothless mouth twisted into a grin, the sunken eyes wrinkled with pleasure. "Yes," he said, "the first day of En'Kara, 10,118, more than a year ago."

"It was before I came to the House of Cernus," I said, my voice trembling.

I gave him another drink of the paga.

"Your calendar is well kept," I said. "Worthy of a Scribe."

"I am a Scribe," said the man. He reached under himself to hold forth for my inspection a shred of damp, rotted blue cloth, the remains of what had once been his robes.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Pages 277 - 278


"Would such not be pleased to be served his paga by such as these? Would he not care to see them dance for him? Would the sight of them, eager, lips lifted, in the shadows of a tavern's alcoves, not soothe his weary eyes aching from the sun and salt of gleaming Thassa?"
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 305


At the tavern of the Greens, he had put down his goblet of paga, and had laughed, spreading out his hands, "Then," had said he, "you must have no pattern."
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 369


Flaminius came in but a few moments. With him he carried the apparatus of his craft, and a canister of fluid. There was paga on his breath but his eyes were sober.
Assassin of Gor     Book 5     Page 380

I watched the dancing girl of Port Kar writhing on the square of sand between the tables, under the whips of masters, in a Paga tavern of Port Kar.

"Your paga," said the nude slave girl, who served me, her wrists chained. "It is warmed as you wished."

I took it from her, not even glancing upon her, and drained the goblet.

She knelt beside the low table, at which I sat cross-legged.

"More," I said, handing her back the goblet, again not deigning to even glance upon her.

"Yes, Master," she said, rising, taking the goblet.

I liked paga warm. One felt it so much the sooner.

It is called the Whip Dance, the dance the girl upon the sand danced.

She wore a delicate vest and belt of chains and jewels with shimmering metal droplets attached. And she wore ankle rings, and linked slave bracelets, again with shimmering droplets pendant upon them and a locked collar matching.

She danced under ships' lanterns, hanging from the ceiling of the paga tavern, it located near the wharf bounding the great arsenal.

I heard the snapping of the whip, her cries.

The dancing girls of Port Kar are said to be the best of all Gor. They are sought eagerly in the many cities of the planet. They are slave to the core, vicious, treacherous, cunning, seductive, sensuous, dangerous, desirable, excruciatingly desirable.

"Your paga," said the girl, who served me.

I took it from her, again not seeing her. "Go, Slave," said I.

"Yes, Master," she said and, with a rustle of chain, left my side.

I drank more paga.

So I had come to Port Kar.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 100

I took another drink of paga.

The men who had come to the tavern were roistering but order, to some extent, had been restored. Two of the ship's lanterns had been broken. There was glass, and spilled paga about, and two broken tables. But the musicians were again playing and again, in the square of sand, the girl performed, though not now the Whip Dance. Nude slave girls, wrists chained, hurried about. The proprietor, sweating, aproned, was tipping yet another great bottle of paga in its sling, filling cups, that they be borne to the drinkers. There was an occasional scream from the alcoves, bringing laughter from the tables. I heard the flash of a whip somewhere, and the cries of a girl.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 105

I threw a silver tarsk, taken from what we had obtained from the slavers in the marsh, to the proprietor of the paga tavern, and took in return one of the huge bottles of paga, of the sort put in the pouring sling, and reeled out of the tavern, making my way along the narrow walk way lining the canal, toward the quarters taken by men, Thurnock and Clitus, with our slaves.

I had pounded on the beamed door of our quarter "Paga!" I had cried. "I bring paga!"

Thurnock took down the beams from the door, at swung it open.

"Paga!" he shouted, pleased, seeing the great bottle.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 111


"Good, my Captain," said Clitus, from one side, where he sat working on a net, reinforcing its knots one by one. He grinned at the sight of the bottle. "I could use some paga," said he. He had purchased the net in the morning, with a trident, the traditional weapons of the fisherman of the western shore and the western islands. Kneeling quite near him, holding cord for him, fiber on her throat serving as collar, knelt short, dark-haired Ula. She, too, wore a slight bit of silk.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 112


Before we set out we broke open the great bottle of paga, and Thurnock, Clitus and I clashed goblets and emptied them of their swirling fires. Then we forced each of the girls, choking and sputtering, to themselves upon a goblet, swilling down as best they could the fowl draught. I recall Midice standing there in her silk, the leather on her wrist, shaking, coughing, paga on her mouth, looking at me with fear.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 113

That night, the girls in our arms, we feasted, lifting many cups of paga.

Clitus, after returning to our quarters, had left and returned with four musicians, bleary-eyed, routed from their mats well past the Twentieth Hour, but, lured by the jingling of a pair of silver tarsks, ready to play for us, past the dawn if need be. We soon had them drunk as well and though it did not improve their playing, I was pleased to see them join with us in our festivities, helping as to make our feast. Clitus, too, had brought two bottles of Ka-la-na wine, a string of eels, cheese of the Verr, and a sack of red olives from the groves of Tyros.

We greeted him with cheers.

Telima had prepared a roast tarsk, stuffed with suls and peppers from Tor.

There were great quantities of the yellow Sa-Tarna bread, in its rounded, six-part loaves.

We were served by the Kettle Slave, Telima. She poured paga for the men, and Ka-la-na for the women. She tore the bread for us, broke the cheese, ribboned the eels and cut the tarsk. She hurried from one to the other, and the musicians as well, scarcely serving one before being summoned to another. The girls commanded her as well as the men. She was only Kettle Slave and thus, they were of a higher sort than she. Further, I gathered, on the islands, Telima, with her beauty, her skills and arrogance, had not been popular, and it pleased them no little that she should be, in effect, slave for them as well as their masters.

I sat cross-legged at the low table, quaffing paga, my left arm about the shoulders of Midice, who, kneeling, snuggled against me.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Pages 114 - 115

I found myself alone in the darkness. It was about an Ahn, I conjectured, before daylight. I trod the narrow walkway lining the canal. Then, suddenly, falling to my hands and knees, I threw up into the dark waters. I heard one of the giant canal urts twist in the water somewhere beneath me. I threw up again, and then stood up, shaking my head. I had had too much paga, I told myself.

I could smell the sea, but I had not yet seen her.

The buildings lining the canals on each side were dark, but, here and there, in the side of one, near a window, was a torch. I looked at the brick, the stone, watched the patterns and shadows playing on the walls of the buildings of Port Kar.

Somewhere I heard the squealing and thrashing of two of the giant urts fighting in the water, among the floating garbage.

My steps took me again to the paga tavern where I had begun this night.

I was alone, and miserable. I was cold. There was nothing of worth in Port Kar, nor in all the worlds of all the suns.

I pushed open the doors of the paga tavern.

The musicians, and the dancer, had gone, long ago I supposed.

There were not so many men in the paga tavern now t and those there were seemed mostly lost in stupor. Here and there some lay among the tables, their tunics soiled with paga. Others lay, wrapped in ship's cloaks, against the wall. Some two or three still sat groggily at the tables, staring at goblets half-filled with paga. The girls, saving those who served still in the curtained alcoves must have been somewhere chained for the night, probably in a slave room off the kitchen. The proprietor, when I entered, lifted his head from the counter, behind which hung a great bottle of paga in its pouring sling.

I threw down a copper tarn disk and he tilted the great bottle.

I took my goblet of paga to a table and sat down, cross-legged, behind it.

I did not want to drink. I wanted only to be alone.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Pages 119 - 120


Free Goreans do not like to be pressed in their tasks. Two Ahn for lunch and stopping an Ahn early for paga and talk in the late afternoon are not uncommon.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 134

I felt the folded sweep of Clitus' net behind me and I thrust back my hand, and hooked my fingers into its mesh. Bleeding and choking, shivering with cold, I was drawn from the water. In moments, trembling, half supported by two men-at-arms, I was conducted back to the investing wall. There, in the heat of a watch fire, I stripped away my clothes and took a cloak from Thurnock. Someone gave me a swallow of paga from a leather bota.

Suddenly I laughed.

"Why do you laugh!" asked one of the men-at-arms.

"I am pleased to find myself alive," I said.

The men laughed. Thurnock clapped me on the shoulders. "So, too, are we, my captain," said Thurnock.

"What of your leg?" asked one of the men-at-arms.

"It is all right," I told him.

I took another swig of paga.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 171

In this very afternoon the formal presentations and accountings of the victory and its plunder had taken place in the chamber of the Council of Captains.

I rose to my feet and lifted my goblet of paga, acknowledging the cries of my retainers.

The goblets clashed and we drank.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Pages 217 - 218

Now, at my victory feast, I drank more paga. That, I told myself, letting a boy train with weapons, had been a moment of weakness. I did not expect I would allow myself more such moments.

I observed the boy bringing in yet another roasted tarsk.

No, I told myself, I should not have showed such lenience to a slave.

I would not again allow myself such moments of weakness.

I fingered the broad scarlet ribbon and the medallion, pendant about my neck, bearing its tarn ship and initials, those of the Council of Captains of Port Kar.

I was Bosk, Pirate, Admiral of Port Kar, now perhaps one of the richest and most powerful men on Gor.

No, I would not again show such moments of weakness.

I thrust out the silver paga goblet, studded with rubies, and Telima, standing beside my thronelike chair, filled it. I did not look upon her.

I looked down the table, to where Thurnock, with his slave Thura, and Clitus, with his slave, Ula, were drinking and laughing. Thurnock and Clitus were good men, but they were fools. They were weak. I recalled how they had taken a fancy to the boy, Fish, and had helped him with his work in weapons. Such men were weak. They had not in themselves the stuff of captains.

I sat back on the great chair, paga goblet in hand, surveying the room.

It was crowded with the tables of my retainers, feasting.

To one side musicians played.

There was a clear space before my great table, in which, from time to time, during the evening, entertainments had been provided, simple things, which even I upon occasion found amusing, fire eaters and sword swallowers, jugglers and acrobats, and magicians, and slaves, riding on one another's shoulders' striking at one another with inflated tarsk bladders tied to poles.

"Drink!" I cried.

And again goblets were lifted and clashed.

I looked down the long table, and, far to my right, sitting alone at the end of the long bench behind the table, was Luma, my slave and chief scribe. Poor, scrawny, plain Luma, thought I, in her tunic of scribe's cloth, and collar! What a poor excuse for a paga slave she had been! Yet she had a brilliant mind for the accounts and business of a great house, and had much increased my fortunes. So indebted to her was I that I had, this night, permitted her to sit at one end of the great table. No free man, of course, would sit beside her. Moreover, that my other scribes and retainers not be angered, I had had her put in slave bracelets, and about her neck had had fastened a chain, which was bolted into the heavy table. And it was thus that Luma, she of perhaps greatest importance in my home, saving its master, with us, yet chained and alone, apart, shared my feast of victory.

"More paga," said I, putting out the goblet.

Telima poured me more paga.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Pages 223 - 224

I extended the paga goblet to Telima and, again, she filled it.

I rose to my feet, lifting the goblet, and my retainers, as well, rose to their feet, lifting their goblets.

"There is gold and steel!" I said.

"Gold and steel!" cried my retainers.

We drank.

"And songs," said the blind singer.

The room was quiet.

I looked upon the singer. "Yes," I said, lifting my goblet to him, "and songs."
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 226

I held out my paga goblet, but it was not filled. I looked about, angrily.

I called out to a passing slave girl. "Where is the slave Telima?" I demanded.

"She was here but a moment ago," said a slave girl.

"She went to the kitchens," said another.

I had not given her permission to leave.

"I will serve you paga," said Sandra.

"No," I said, holding the paga goblet away from her. I addressed myself to one of the slave girls. "Have Telima beaten," I said, "and sent to my side. I would be served."

"Yes, Master," said the girl, speeding away.

Sandra looked down, angrily, pouting.

"Do not fret," I said to her, "or I shall have you beaten as well."

"It is only, Master," said she, "that I wish to serve you."

I laughed. She was indeed a wily wench.

"Paga?" I asked.

She looked up at me, suddenly, her eyes bright, her lips slightly parted. "No," she said, "wine."

"I see," I said.

There was a rustle of chain and the Lady Vivina, to the pleasure of the tables, was conducted before me.

I heard a movement at my side and saw that Telima now stood again where she had before. There were tears in her eyes. I did not doubt that she now had four or five welts on her back from the switch of the kitchen master. The thin rep-cloth tunic provides little protection from the kitchen master's switch. I held out the paga goblet, and she refilled it.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 231


Also I had toyed with the idea of opening a paga tavern in the center of the city, the most opulent in Port Kar, perhaps, called the Tavern of the Forty Maidens. There were few in Port Kar who would not be eager to patronize such an establishment, that they might be served by the high-born beauties of Tyros.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Pages 232 - 233

"Paga!" I cried and held back the goblet and Telima filled it.

I regretted only that Midice and Tab were not with me to share my triumph.

I stood drunkenly, holding to the table. I spilled paga. "Paga!" I cried, and Telima again filled the goblet. I drank again. And then, again, wildly, shouting, crying out, I threw gold to all the corners of the room, laughing as the men fought and leaped to seize it.

I drank and then threw more coins and more coins about the room.

There was laughter and delighted cries.

"Hail Bosk!" I heard. "Hail Bosk, Admiral of Port Kar!"

I threw more gold wildly about. I drank again, and again. "Yes," I cried. "Hail Bosk!"
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 236


I stood on the icy, wind-struck deck of the Dorna, my back turned to the storm. My admiral's cloak, brought with my returning men from the round ship, was given to me and I wrapped it about my shoulders. A vessel of hot paga was brought, too.
"The victory draught," said the oar-master.
I grinned. I did not feel victorious. I was cold. I was alive. I swallowed the hot paga.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Pages 279 - 280

Samos put down a cup of paga. "How do you suppose matters in the city will proceed?" he asked Tab.

Tab looked down at the table. "The Ubars Eteocles and Sullius Maximus," he said, "have already fled with their ships and men. The last holding of Henrius Sevarius has been abandoned. The council hall, though partly burnt, is not destroyed. The city, it seems to me, is safe. The fleet will doubtless return within four or five days."

"Then," said Samos, "it seems that the Home Stone of Port Kar is secure." He lifted his goblet.

We drank his toast.
Raiders of Gor     Book 6     Page 306


I saw that a cart, loaded with jugs of paga, arrived at the compound. It was greeted with cheers by the guards. Tonight was a night for celebration. Tomorrow we would leave the compound and begin the overland journey across the river and southeast to Ko-ro-ba, and from thence to Ar.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 108

She leaped to her feet and ran to him, where he shook her head roughly, and unbound her. "Fetch me paga," he said. "Yes, Master," she said.

I went to the wagon to fetch a large bota of paga, which had been filled from one of the large jugs.

Lana and Ute, too, went to the wagon, to fetch other botas, so commanded by other guards.

Soon I returned to the firelight, the heavy bota of paga, on its strap, slung over my shoulder, Ute and Lana, with theirs, behind me.

The grass felt good to my bare feet. It seemed I could feel each blade. I felt the rough fabric of the camisk on my body as I moved, the pull of the strap on my shoulder, the heavy, swaying touch of the bota as, in the rhythm of my walk, it touched my side.

Beyond the fire, in the distance, like an irregular margin, a torn, soft, dark edge hiding the bright stars of Gor, I could see the lofty, still blackness of the borders of the northern forests. Far off, I heard the scream of a hunting sleen. I shivered.

Then I heard the laughing of the men, and turned again toward the fire.

Back away toward the compound, here and there on the meadow, I could see other fires, and clusters of wagons. This was a night for paga, for celebration. Tomorrow, Targo, and his men and his merchandise, would make their way to Laura and, crossing the river there, begin their long, overland journey to Ko-ro-ba, called by some the Towers of the Morning, and from thence to luxurious Ar itself. The journey would be not only long and hard but dangerous.

"Paga!" called the guard.

I hurried to him.

"Let Lana dance," whimpered Lana.

The guard handed me a piece of meat and I took it in my teeth kneeling beside him, where he sat cross-legged, I lifting and squeezing the bota of paga, filled from one of the large jugs, guiding the stream of liquid into his mouth. I bit through the charred exterior of the meat, into the red, hot, half-raw, juicy interior.

The guard, with one hand, gestured that he had had enough.

I laid the bota aside on the grass.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Pages 112 - 113


I observed Inge filling the paga goblet of one of the huntsmen. She knelt closer to him than she needed to. Her lips were parted. Her eyes shone. Her hands, slightly, shook on the paga bottle. Rena knelt to one side. She watched her huntsman, gnawing the meat from a great bone. I could see that she was eager to leap up to serve him, should he but speak to her.
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 300

"Thurnock," I said, "let us now have that cup of paga, and then let us retire. We must rise early, for the Dorna, and the Venna, and the Tela are to be inspected."

"Yes, my captain," said Thurnock. "Yes!"
Captive of Gor     Book 7     Page 370

"May I serve, Masters?" she asked.

"Paga," said Samos, absently, looking at the board.

"Yes." I said.

With a flash of slave bells, she withdrew. As she left, I noted that she passed by the kneeling male slave, flanked by his guards. She passed him as a slave girl, her head in the air, insolently, taunting him with her body.

I saw rage flash in his eyes. I heard his chains move. The guards took no note of him. He was well secured. The girl laughed, and continued on, to fetch paga for free men. "Guard your tarnsman," said Samos.

Instead I swept my Ubar to Ubar's Tarnsman One.

I looked into Samos' eyes.

He turned his attention again to the board.

He had a large, squarish head, short-cropped white hair. His face was dark from the sun, and wind-burned, and sea-burned. There were small, golden rings in his ears. He was a pirate, a slaver, a master swordsman, a captain of Port Kar. He studied the board.

He did not take the Ubar's Tarnsman with his spearman. He looked up at me, and defended his Home Stone by bringing his Scribe to Ubar One, whence it could control his Ubar's Tarnsman Three, controlling as well the killing diagonal.

"Talena, daughter of Marlenus of Ar, I learn, has been taken as slave to the northern forests," I said.

"Where did you obtain this information?" he asked. Samos was always suspicious.

"From a female slave, who was in my house," I said, "a rather lovely wench, whose name was Elinor."

"That El-in-or," he asked, "who is now the property of Rask of Treve?"

"Yes," I said. I smiled. "I got one hundred pieces of gold for her," I said.

Samos smiled. "Doubtless, for such a price," he said, "Rask of Treve will see that she repays him a thousand times that price in pleasure."

I smiled. "I do not doubt it." I returned my attention to the board. "Yet," said I, "it is my suspicion that between them there is truly love."

Samos smiled. "Love," he asked, "for a female slave?"

"Paga, Masters?" asked the dark-haired girl, kneeling beside the table.

Samos, not looking at her, held forth his goblet. The girl filled the goblet.

I held forth my goblet, and she, too, filled mine. "Withdraw," said Samos. She withdrew.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Pages 8 - 9


I glanced across the room. A few yards away, on the tiles, in her brief silk, the two-handled, bronze paga vessel beside her, knelt the slave girl, waiting to be summoned. She was dark-haired, and beautiful.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 11


Elsewhere I heard a vendor of pastries crying his wares. From within a nearby paga tavern I heard the sounds of musicians.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 42

We took a table, an inconspicuous one, near the rear of the paga tavern, yet one with an unimpeded view. The short-bodied girl was indeed superb. Aside from her chains, confining her wrists and ankles, she wore only her collar.

There was a flash of slave bells at my side and a dark-haired, yellow-silked girl, a paga girl, knelt beside us, where we sat cross-legged behind the small table. "Paga, Masters?"

"For three," said I, expansively. "And bring bread and bosk, and grapes."

"Yes, Master."
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 46


The girl who served us was also beautiful. We had finished with our meal. And we were now finishing second cups of paga.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 47

"Go to the wall," I said.

She put down her vessel of paga, and rose lightly. I saw the beauty of her body beneath the silk. She went to the wall, where Tendite had been chained.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 57

Her fists clenched in the slave bracelets. She was indeed that now, simply an unimportant, lowly paga slave in Lydius. I regarded her beauty.

"What are you going to do with me?" she asked.

"I have paid the price of a cup of paga," I told her.

I regarded her in the shadows of the small alcove, lit by the tiny lamp, its draft carried by the tiny ventilating hole above it.

She still wore the chains I had put her in. The bit of yellow silk, crumpled, soaked with sweat, lay to one side. "How does it feel to be a paga slave?" I asked. She turned her head to one side.

I had exacted the full performance of the paga slave from her.

"You are angry," she said, "because I fled from you. Now you take your vengeance on me."

"I merely used you as the paga slave you are," I told her. It was true. I had treated her no worse, or better, than such slaves are commonly treated. Moreover, she knew that. She knew I had forced her to serve precisely as a paga slave, no more nor less.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Pages 59 - 60


We had taken on supplies, and my men, on shore, in the paga taverns, had rested, and had muchly pleasured themselves with the lovely recreations of the port.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 64

"We shall open only this bottle," I said. "The others we may enjoy later."

They would not become drunk. One bottle of Ka-la-na among ten men is nothing. Ka-la-na is not paga or the strong beer of the north.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 124


Paga slaves are usually lovely girls. I recalled Tana, a paga slave I had met in Lydius. She was a lovely girl, a beautiful example, belled and silked, of such a slave.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 177

"Speak to me," I said, "of what took place in this camp, and tell me what you know of the doings and intentions of the men of Tyros."

"We know nothing," said one of the girls. "We are only slaves."

In the pouring of paga, I knew, they would have heard much.

"It is my wish," I said, "that you speak." My eyes were not pleasant.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Pages 181 - 182


"We were the slaves of Hesius of Laura," she wept. "We are paga slaves. Our master dealt with Sarus, Captain of the Rhoda, of Tyros. We were to be rented to the camp of Bosk of Port Kar. We were to serve wine. The men of Tyros, when the wine had been drunk, were to storm the camp."
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 182


I looked at her. She stood in brief, diaphanous yellow slave silk, that of the paga slave. Her hair was very long and dark. Her skin was very light. She was slender.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 217


In Gorean legends the Priest-Kings are said to have formed man from the mud of the earth and the blood of tarns. In the legends of Torvaldsland, man has a different origin. Gods, meeting in council, decided to form a slave for themselves, for they were all gods, and had no slaves. They took a hoe, an instrument for working the soil, and put it among them. They then sprinkled water upon this implement and rubbed upon it sweat from their bodies. From this hoe was formed most men. On the other hand, that night, one of the gods, curious, or perhaps careless, or perhaps driven from the hall and angry, threw down upon the ground his own great ax, and upon this ax he poured paga and his own blood, and the ax laughed and leaped up, and ran away. The god, and all the gods, could not catch it, and it became, it is said, the father of the men of Torvaldsland.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Pages 257 - 258


How long would it have been since they had witnessed the swaying body of a chained girl in a paga tavern, perhaps even Ilene in the tavern of Hesius in Laura, or, say, one of the luscious, collared slaves of culturally mixed Lydius, at the mouth of the Laurius, perhaps one of the beauties of the Lydian tavern keeper, Sarpedon, perhaps the wench called Tana, once Elizabeth Cardwell of Earth, now only a belled paga slave.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 263

"Similarly," said Thurnock, "took she the key from the mate of the Rhoda and, when the ships were tied together, and the men of the Rhoda and Tesephone were drunk with her body and the vessels of paga she poured them, she brought it to us. We freed ourselves, and put those who had been our captors in chains."

"Well done," said I, "Thurnock."

"We put them in the hold of the Rhoda," grinned Thurnock. "In the morning doubtless they will be surprised to find themselves in chains. Their heads, too, sore from the paga, will most likely cause them some displeasure."
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Pages 287 - 288


"Bring paga and food from the ships!" ordered Marlenus.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 290


"Give him paga," said Thurnock.
And Sandra, in her vest of jewels, and bells, taunted me in the paga tavern in Port Kar.
I swilled paga.
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Page 295


He grinned. "Yes," said he. "We shall, first, journey up the Laurius to Laura. We will have business with one named Hesius of Laura, who sent paga slaves and drugged wine to our camp. I shall burn the tavern. His women will find themselves in our chains. We shall bring them to Port Kar and dispose of them there in the slave markets."
Hunters of Gor     Book 8     Pages 309 - 310


It was long since I had tasted the fiery paga of the Sa-Tarna fields north of the Vosk. Now, even the wines from the vineyards of Ar seemed bitter to me.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 1

"I would have paga," I said. "And bring me the red meat of bosk."

Henrius and Clitus left the table.

The sword was brought. It was a fine blade. It had been carried on the 25th of Se'Kara. Its blade was figured, its hilt encrusted with jewels.

I took the goblet, filled with burning paga. I had not had paga since returning from the northern forests.

"Ta-Sardar-Gor," said I, pouring a libation to the table. Then I stood.

"He is standing!" cried Luma. "He is standing!"

I threw back my head and swilled down the paga. The meat, red and hot, was brought, and I tore it in my teeth, the juices running at the side of my mouth.

The blood and the paga were hot and dark within me. I felt the heat of the meat.

I threw from me the goblet of gold. I tore the meat and finished it.
Marauders of Gor     Book 9     Page 22

Samos turned away from the girl. He indicated to me a man who sat at a far end of one of the low tables. He did not drink wine or paga. The man, rare in Port Kar, wore the kaffiyeh and agal. The kaffiyeh is a squarish scarf, folded over into a triangle, and placed over the head, two points at the side of the shoulders, one in back to protect the back of the neck. It is bound to the head by several loops of cord, the agal. The cording indicates tribe and district.

We went to the man. "This is Ibn Saran, salt merchant of the river port of Kasra," said Samos.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 20



Sometimes inert, esteemed Gorean free women cry out in rage, not understanding why their companions have forsaken them for the evening, to go to the paga tavern; there, of course, for the price of a cup of paga, he can get his hands on a silken, belled girl, a slave;
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 25


I had then left her and gone to the cafes, to find what I might learn. In the cafes, as in the paga taverns of the north, one learns the realities of a city, what is its latest news, what is afoot in the city, what are its dangers, its pleasures, and where its power lies.
Tribesmen of Gor     Book 10     Page 47


A man sat drinking to one side, a strong brew called paga.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 45


There were flasks of wine there, and bottles of the brew called paga;
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 50


"You are worthless," said the Lady Sabina to the bound slave. "You should carry paga in a paga tavern."
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 116


The belled, silked girls of the taverns were well known in the cities of Gor. Their purpose was to please the customers of their master. They came with the price of a cup of paga.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 291


To make matters worse the women in the tiers, because of the bidding, now saw me, and understood me, as a girl destined for the taverns, hot, spiced meat, delicious to men, a delectable accompaniment, like the music, to the tawny fire of paga.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 292

"Paga," called a man.

I hurried to him, carrying the large bronze vessel of paga, on its strap about my shoulder.
I knelt and filled his cup. He did not order me to an alcove. I rose and, carrying the vessel of paga, went to the door of the tavern, to step outside, to taste the air. As a paga girl I came with the purchased cup of fluid, but, of course, I, like the others, was only a lovely option; whether I served in an alcove depended entirely on the whim and appetite of the customer.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 293


The customer could select any serving slave for his pleasure, providing he had paid the price of the paga; he could pick the girl of his interest, whether she had poured him the paga in question or not; to be sure, the customer usually commanded his paga from the wench who had caught his fancy, if he was planning on using her; if he was not interested in the having of a slave girl he would usually call his paga from the closest wench; each cup of paga entitled him to take one slave to the alcove; thus, theoretically, he might use several in one evening; these arrangements, however, terminated with the dawn, and the closing of the tavern; he might not, so to speak, save his cups for later. Dancers must be separately negotiated for.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 294


"Paga! Paga!" I heard. I did not even have time to slip the vessel on its strap over my shoulder. Holding its two handles with my hands, I fled back, with a jangle of slave bells, to the floor, to serve.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 298

"Sul paga!" cried Thurnus, pounding on the small table with his great staff.

"Be quiet," said a fellow at a nearby table. He was drinking with some five companions.

"Sul paga!" shouted Thurnus, pounding on the table.

"Be silent!" said some fellow at another table.

"Sul paga! Sul paga!" cried Thurnus. The great staff banged on the table.

Busebius rushed to the table. "Master," said he, "we have many pagas, those of Ar and Tyros, and Ko-ro-ba, and Helmutsport, and Anango, and Tharna!"
"Sul paga!" shouted Thurnus. Several men about, at various tables, regarded him, most unpleasantly. I had worked in the Belled Collar, and, later, in the Chatka and Curla, in Cos. It did not require a great deal of experience to sense that Thurnus must soon be quiet or there would be trouble.

The pagas mentioned by Busebius were all, of course, Sa-Tarna pagas, of various sorts and localities, varying largely in the blend.

"Sul paga!" demanded Thurnus. Sul paga, as anyone knew, is seldom available outside of a peasant village, where it is brewed. Sul paga would slow a tharlarion. To stay on your feet after a mouthful of Sul paga it is said one must be of the peasants, and then for several generations. And even then, it is said, it is difficult to manage. There is a joke about the baby of a peasant father being born drunk nine months later.

"Sul paga!" shouted Thurnus.

"Silence!" cried a brawny fellow, some two tables away.

"Please, Master," said Busebius, "we do not have Sul paga here."
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Pages 413 - 414


There are some compensations in the public tents, however. One may have paga and wines there. These are served by slave girls, whose comforts and uses are also included within the price of the lodging.
Beasts of Gor     Book 12     Page 51

The beast returned from the cabinet with two glasses and a bottle.

"Is that not the paga of Ar?" I asked.

"Is it not one of your favorites?" he asked. "See," he said. "It has the seal of the brewer, Temus."

"That is remarkable," I said. "You are very thoughtful."

"I have been saving it," he told me.

"For me?" I asked.

"Of course," he said. "I was confident you would get through."

"I am honored," I said.

"I have waited so long to talk to you," he said.

He poured two glasses of paga, and reclosed the bottle. We lifted the glasses, and touched them, the one to the other.

"To our war," he said.

"To our war," I said.

We drank.
Beasts of Gor     Book 12     Pages 371 - 372


The Four Chains was a dingy tavern, located between two warehouses. Procopius Minor owned about twenty girls. His establishment had a reputation for brawls, cheap paga and hot slaves.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 42


The paga tasted a bit strange, but it was a local paga and there is variation in such pagas, generally a function of the brewer's choice of herbs and grains.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 132


"What is going on here?" cried the proprietor of the tavern, who had come in earlier, and was now behind the counter, ladling out paga.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 134


I was slightly drunk and heated from the paga, but I did not believe myself fevered.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 136


"You took the girl into the tavern," I said, "and covered her with your aba, that she might not move. Shaba, under the cover of the ring, drugged the paga which I drank.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 154

I smiled. "Of course not," I said. "Do you have the paga of Ar, of the brewery of Temus?"

"Woe," smiled Shaba. "We have here only Schendi paga, but I think it is quite good. It is, of course, a matter of taste."
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Pages 156 - 157


In most taverns no bottle is brought to the table but the paga is brought to the table, by the paga slave, a cup at a time, the cups normally being filled from a vat behind the counter. She filled the cup there, before me, and left it behind.
Explorers of Gor     Book 13     Page 158


Men crowded about. Among them, naked, in collars, were paga slaves, with their bronze vessels on leather straps.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 57

"I will use the one in that alcove," I said to Tasdron, flinging down a tarsk bit on the stained counter.

"She is yours," said Tasdron, wiping a paga goblet with a large, soft cloth.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 97


"You stink of the paga taverns," she said.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 119


I saw several of the pirates with bottles of paga, swilling from them, as they strutted about, sometimes pausing to cut into a bale of goods or overturn a barrel, kicking it open, permitting its contents to run out, over the boards.
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Page 175

"Once I was captain in Port Cos," he said. "Indeed it was I who once drove the band of Policrates from the vicinity of Port Cos." He looked up at me. "But that was long ago," he said. I no longer remember that captain. I think he is gone now."

"What occurred?" I asked.

"He grew more fond of paga than of his codes," he said. "Disgraced, he was dismissed. He came west upon the river, to Victoria."
Rogue of Gor     Book 15     Pages 180 - 181

"Zarendargar may need my assistance," I said. "I may be able to aid him."

"But why, why?" he asked.

How could I explain to Samos the dark affinity I shared with one whom I had met only in the north, and long ago, with one who, clearly, was naught but a beast? I recalled the long evening I had once spent with Zarendargar, and our lengthy, animated conversations, the talk of warriors, the talk of soldiers, of those familiar with arms and martial values, of those who had shared the zest and terrors of conflict, to whom crass materialisms could never be more than the means to worthier victories, who had shared the loneliness of command, who had never forgotten the meanings of words such as discipline, responsibility, courage and honor, who had known perils, and long treks and privations, to whom comfort and the hearth beckoned less than camps and distant horizons.

"Why, why?" he asked.

I looked beyond Samos, to the canal beyond. The urt hunter, with his girl and boat, rowing slowly, was taking his leave. He would try his luck elsewhere.

"Why?" asked Samos.

I shrugged. "Once," I said, "we shared paga."
Savages of Gor     Book 17     Pages 70 - 71


"Should I wish to enter a paga tavern, for example," I said, "you will accompany me."
"In most paga taverns," he said, "free women are not permitted. In some they are."
Kajira of Gor     Book 19     Page 122


"Paga, mate?" inquired a mariner.
I took a swig of paga from his bota and he one from mine.
Players of Gor     Book 20     Page 39


"Hurtha," said I, "what have you there?"
"Fruits, dried and fresh, candies, nuts, four sorts of meats, choice, all of them, fresh-baked bread, selected pastries," responded he, his arms full, "and some superb paga and delicate ka-la-na."
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 80


He had entertained Hurtha and myself, sharing some fine paga with us, of the House of Temus, my favorite,
Mercenaries of Gor     Book 21     Page 311


Not all paga slaves are tavern dancers, but all tavern dancers are paga slaves.
Dancer of Gor     Book 22     Page 198

Bread and paga	2 C.T.
Other food	3 - 5 C.T.
Lodging	10 C.T.
Blankets (2)	2 C.T.
Bath	1 C.T.
Bath girl	2 C.T.
Sponge, oil and strigil	1 C.T.
Girl for the night	5 C.T.
T., Greens and Stable	2 C.T.
T., Meat and Cot	5 C.T.

A comment, or two, might be in order on this list of prices. First, it will be noted that they are not typical. In many inns, depending on the season, to be sure, and the readiness of the keeper to negotiate, one can stay for as little as two or three copper tarsks a day, everything included, within reason, of course, subject to some restraint with respect to paga, and such.

For purposes of comparison, in many paga taverns, one may have paga and food, and a girl for the alcove, if one wants, for a single copper tarsk.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Pages 51 - 52

"Paga and bread are two tarsks," she said. "Other food may be purchased from three to five tarsks."

"Is the paga cut?" I asked.

"One to five," she said.
This is not that unusual at an inn. The proportions, then, would be one part paga to five parts water. Commonly, at a paga tavern, the paga would be cut less, or not cut at all.
. . .

"I do not suppose," I said, "that if one orders the porridge, the bread and paga comes with it?"

"No," she said.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 70

In a few moments she returned through the door bearing a tray. She knelt near the table, put the tray on the floor, unbidden performed obeisance and then, as though submissively, put the tray on the table, and put the paga, in a small kantharos, and the bread on its trencher, before me. Then she put the bowl of porridge, with a spoon, before me. She then withdrew, taking the tray, put it to the side, on the floor, again performed obeisance, unbidden, and then knelt back, as though in attendance. There had been something false in her subservience.

I looked at her, narrowly.

She did not meet my eyes.

I took a sip of paga, and then sopped some bread in it, and then ate it.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Page 71

I did not raise my eyes but appeared to be concerned with the paga. I heard him make a sound of contempt. I wondered if he noted that my hand closed more tightly upon the base of the kantharos. I should try to control that. I think I myself might have noticed it, in the movement of the upper arm. He stood there, a few feet away. I began to feel insulted. Heat rose in my body. I controlled myself. Surely that is what Dietrich of Tarnburg would have done. I did not look up.

Warriors, of course, are trained to rely upon peripheral vision. If he approached me too closely, coming within a predetermined critical distance, I could dash the paga upward into his eyes and wrench the table up and about, plunging one of the legs into his diaphragm. Then in a moment I could have him under my foot or upon my sword. Some authorities recommend breaking the kantharos into shards on the face, taking the target above the bridge of the nose with the rim. This can be even more dangerous with a metal goblet. Many civilians, I believe, do not know why certain warriors, by habit, request their paga in metal goblets when dining in public houses.
Renegades of Gor     Book 23     Pages 76 - 77


There were perhaps a hundred men, here and there, within the enclosure, and some fifteen or twenty girls. The girls filled their vessels, which, like the hydria, or water vessel, are high-handled, for dipping, in a large kettle hung simmering over a fire near the entrance to the enclosure. Warm paga makes one drunk quicker, it is thought. I usually do not like my paga heated, except sometimes on cold nights. This night was not cold, but warm. It was now late spring. Some Cosians tend to be fond of hot paga. So, too, are some of the folks in the more northern islands, interestingly, such as Hunjer and Skjern, west of Torvaldsland. This probably represents an influence from Cos, transmitted through merchants and seamen. In the north generally, mead, a drink made with fermented honey, and water, and often spices and such, tends to be favored over paga.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 16


The enclosure of Philebus was, in effect, a transportable paga tavern, one so arranged that it might accompany a moving camp.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 17


Temione had now reached the vat, and was carefully dipping her narrow, high-handled serving vessel in the simmering paga.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 18


Temione had now filled her paga vessel. She picked up a goblet from a rack near the vat. The shelving on the rack was of narrow wooden rods. The goblets are kept upside down on the rods. In this way, washed, they can drain, and dry. This also affords them some protection from dust. I watched her carefully wipe the goblet. Woe to the slave who would dare to serve paga or wine in a dirty goblet!
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 20

"Let slaves present themselves!" called the fellow, lifting his vessel of paga.

"The parade of slaves!" called a man. "The parade of slaves!"

"Yes, yes!" called others.
The "parade of slaves," as it is sometimes called, commonly takes place in venues such as paga taverns and brothels.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 29

"Come here," he said, indicating a place on the dirt before him. She did not dare to rise to her feet. She went to her hands and knees that she might crawl to the spot he had specified.

"Hold," I said, rising.

All eyes turned toward me, startled.

"She is serving me," I said.

There were cries of astonishment.

"Beware, fellow," said a man. "That is Borton!"

"As I understand the common rules of a paga tavern, under which governances I understand this enclosure to function, I have use of this slave until I see fit to relinquish her, or until the common hour of closing, or dawn, as the case may be, unless I pay overage. Alternatives to such rules are to be made clear in advance, say, by announcement or public posting."

"She was not serving you!" said a fellow.

"Were you serving me?" I asked the slave.

"Yes, Master," she said.

"And have I dismissed you from my service?" I asked.

"No, Master," she said.
Vagabonds of Gor     Book 24     Page 46


I recalled he had thrust her into the circle, perhaps in this generously according her, though perhaps with some impatience, and misgivings, this chance to make amends for some perhaps unintentional, miniscule transgression. Perhaps his paga had not been heated to the right temperature.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 46


To be sure, there were virile male slaves in Ar. For example, many of the fellows who attended to the great refuse vats usually kept at the foot of the stairs in insulae were male slaves. Usually they worked under the direct or indirect supervision of free men. Occasionally they would be treated to a dram of paga or thrown a kettle girl for the evening.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 71


"'You are pretty to have been put in the fields,' she said.
"'I was punished,' I said. 'I served the paga of one of my master's retainers at an incorrect temperature.' "'Stupid slave,' she said. "'Yes, Mistress,' I said.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 366


Because there are many Goreans who cannot read, many stores, shops, and such, will utilize various signs and devices to identify their place of business. For example, a large, wooden image of a paga goblet may hang outside a tavern, a representation of a hammer and anvil outside a metal-worker's shop, one of a needle and thread outside a cloth-worker's shop, and so on.
Magicians of Gor     Book 25     Page 393


He bent forward. She smelled a breath thick with paga, not the red and yellow wines from the vats, the wines which she and the others carried.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 402


Naturally, you must understand, she must be taught your preferences in all things, from the temperature of your paga to that of your bath, and she, of course, as she is a slave, will bathe you.
Prize of Gor     Book 27     Page 652


"The paga is splendid," said Cabot.
"It is the paga of Temus of Ar," said Peisistratus.
"It is my favorite," said Cabot.
"We know," said Peisistratus. "That is why it is being served."
"I am muchly pleased," said Cabot.
Kur of Gor     Book 28     Page 162


There is a time to kill, a time to play kaissa, a time to share paga, a time to do business, a time to exchange slaves, and so on.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 136


The slave girl, incidentally, and I suppose this is obvious, does not serve a beverage to a free woman in the manner she would serve a male, and certainly not in the way she would serve her master. For example, in paga serving, as in a paga tavern, the serving is done in such as way as, in effect, to entice and seduce the male. In such a situation the girl is trying to interest and excite the male and, at the very least, is petitioning his attention, presumably with the alcove in mind.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Pages 178 - 179


Seldom did those of the dark caste drink ka-la-na or paga.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 414


"Finish your sake," suggested Lord Nishida.
I threw it down, which brought a slight tremor of surprise, and distaste, or, perhaps better, disappointment, to the fine features of the daimyo, for sake is not to be so drunk. Perhaps kal-da or paga, but not sake.
Swordsmen of Gor     Book 29     Page 425


I was looking forward to food, and hot paga.
Mariners of Gor     Book 30     Page 133


Paga may not be served in the eating houses, but a variety of cheap ka-la-nas is usually available.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 152


There were two market praetors in the market of Cestias. One was near the coin stalls, and Sul Market, the other, rather across the plaza, not far from the Paga and Ka-la-na Markets.
Conspirators of Gor     Book 31     Page 273


"I think " I said, "it is true, that I have had too much to drink." I then dashed the contents of the goblet on the startled, recoiling slave. She shook her head, and, blinking and twisting, tried to free herself of the paga. It was in her hair, and had drenched her face, and upper body. It ran down her body to her belly and thighs. She stank then of the drink. She shivered. I looked to the proprietor's man. "She has been found displeasing," I said.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 50


If paga was prohibited on the dock, for fear it might compromise or slow work, it was not surprising that the "ka-la-na" of the collar girl should be prohibited, as well.
Smugglers of Gor     Book 32     Page 409


But there are men who prefer ka-la-na and men who prefer paga, even men who prefer mead, or kal-da, even sake.
Rebels of Gor     Book 33     Page 173


On the table, waiting, near the side of the room, were five paga goblets. Also in evidence was the metal paga vessel, with two handles, from which the goblets might be filled. Paga, unlike ka-la-na, is usually not poured at a table. In paga, taverns it is dipped from a vat, the goblet itself sometimes used as the dipper and brought to the table by a paga girl.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 161


She then poured golden paga from the metal vessel into one of the goblets.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 162


I saw other paga girls about, bearing goblets, replenishing goblets at the vat, serving paga, fetching viands.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 263


I did not know the contents of the bottle, but, I supposed, it would contain either ka-la-na or paga, most likely paga. As it was bottled, it was presumably not vat paga, but some selection from a more reserved, or private, stock, doubtless more expensive.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 268


He then finished his dinner with several swigs from the bottle, the contents of which proved to be, judging by the apparent fire of its taste, and the apparently satisfactory burning in his mouth, some special paga. He then recorked the bottle, put it aside, and looked at me.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 270


"Paga loosens the tongue, and opens doors best guarded," said Kurik.
Plunder of Gor     Book 34     Page 548


I rose to my feet, and made my way to the paga vat, where a taverner's man would fill a goblet that I might then bear to the table.
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 122


A goblet of paga is commonly a tarsk-bit, and the girl, if wished, comes with the price of the drink.
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 122


There is nothing to fear from such half men. Jokesters make fun of them; children steal and hide their crutches and sing insulting songs in their presence, keeping clear of their reach; free women will not look upon them; such pieces of men and parts of men must smilingly endure being mocked, while they hope to beg a handful of crumbs, or a sip of bad paga. Some fellows amuse themselves at their expense, using them as butts for humor. Some delight in them. It gives them something on which they may look down."
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 199


"There," said the Vat Master, pointing to the fellow, and he then dipped a goblet into the paga, lifted it, dripping, and thrust it into my hands. "Thread your way amongst the tables," he said. "Be quick. And do not spill a drop or you, barbarian slut, will be lashed across the back of the thighs."
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 421


Ho-Tosk clapped his hands with pleasure, as four men, in line, each wheeling a barrel of paga, entered the tavern, making their way to the paga vat. The Vat Master beamed. There were cries of pleasure from men, and cries of "Paga! Paga!" rang out, and slaves rushed to bring fresh, brimming goblets to the tables.
Quarry of Gor     Book 35     Page 439

"The noble Glaukos need not be involved in these matters," said Nicomachos. "We cannot hold him responsible for what a patron may jabber at a table, or for what a dancer may string on her belt. Anyone might be involved, if anyone, at all. What of a paga tender, a floor master, a keeper of a coin box?"
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 53

"You did well in sounding the alarm," I said. "Perhaps now you would care to join me, in quaffing a celebratory goblet of paga?"
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 62

The paga girls who were not yet serving were kneeling in the display area, to the right of the paga vat, each chained by the left ankle to a ring.
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 66

Now, should inquiries be made, I am Eiron, an oarsman from Naxos on Daphna. You know no more. I shall shortly send you for paga. You are to take a goblet from the shelf at random and fill it at the paga vat yourself. I do not want the goblet to be selected by the vat master or filled by the vat master. If this proves impractical, return and inform me. Later, I shall appear drunk. Whatever happens, do not involve yourself."
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 70

"I will fetch you some paga," said the attendant, withdrawing.

"He is very kind," I said.

I doubted that the goblet would be filled from the contents of the paga vat.

"Stay where you are," said Ctesippus.

"Why should I not do so?" I asked.

I watched the attendant. He did not stop at the paga vat but carried the empty goblet through the beaded curtain to the side. Shortly thereafter, he re-emerged onto the floor, carrying the goblet, brimming with fluid, and approached my table, now followed by a short, smiling, thick-legged, coarse-featured fellow, in a silken, gold-embroidered house tunic.
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Pages 73 - 74

I knew the paga had been tampered with. Surely it had not been removed from the general paga vat. I was sure the drink would not be lethal.
. . .

I carefully clutched the goblet in two hands, and lifted it to my lips. I tasted it. As far as I could tell, it was paga, though of an unusually fine character. It reminded me of that of the brewery of Temos.
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 77

"A gold stater, of Brundisium," I said, pressing it into his hand.

"It is enough to buy you paga for months, or more than enough to have yourself fed, housed, groomed, clothed, and armed."
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 122

"Paga loosens the tongue," said Thurnock. "Who knows where he has been and what he has said."
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 152

Perhaps the village raiders were occupied, gathering loot, drinking home-brewed paga, abusing captives, pursuing fugitives, or such.
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 202

I thrust back the mug of paga on the low, square, small table behind which I sat, cross-legged.
. . .

She looked at me, pressed her lips to the flask of paga, quickly, fervently, and then, head down, rose to her feet, backed away a few feet, and then turned and sped from the large low-ceilinged room, dimly lit by dangling, tharlarion-oil lamps.
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 5

It was morning, early morning. Some men were still in the tavern, mostly somnolent, some sprawled across the tiny tables. The paga vat was covered, the lid chained in place.
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 21

"I would that news was in the air," said Xenon, "as well as the fumes of paga."
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 169

Clitus and Thurnock housed in an insula on the Path of Temos, named for the famous paga brewer.
Warriors of Gor     Book 37     Page 257

Sul Paga

To The Top

My master extended his cup to me, and I, kneeling, filled it with Sul paga. I pressed my lips to the cup, and handed it to him. My eyes smarted. I almost felt drunk from the fumes.

I withdrew.

Sul paga is, when distilled, though the Sul itself is yellow, as clear as water. The Sul is a tuberous root of the Sul plant; it is a Gorean staple. The still, with its tanks and pipes, lay within the village, that of Tabuk's Ford, in which Thurnus, our host, was caste leader.

"Excellent," said my master, sipping the Sul paga. He could have been commenting only on the potency of the drink, for Sul paga is almost tasteless. One does not guzzle Sul paga. Last night one of the men had held my head back and forced me to swallow a mouthful. In moments things had gone black, and I had fallen unconscious. I had awakened only this morning, ill, miserable, with a splitting headache, chained with the other girls.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 134

"Give me of drink," said Thurnus to me.

"Yes, Master," I said. I took the flask of Ka-la-na to him.
. . .

Thurnus looked at me, and grinned. "I said, 'Give me of drink,' small beauty," he said. He emphasized the word 'drink.'
"Forgive me, Master," I said, and, swiftly, turned to put back the Ka-la-na, and fetch the potent Sul paga.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 135


"Sul paga!" demanded Thurnus. Sul paga, as anyone knew, is seldom available outside of a peasant village, where it is brewed. Sul paga would slow a tharlarion. To stay on your feet after a mouthful of Sul paga it is said one must be of the peasants, and then for several generations. And even then, it is said, it is difficult to manage. There is a joke about the baby of a peasant father being born drunk nine months later.
Slave Girl of Gor     Book 11     Page 414

"You have come to see the work done," he said. "You have come to confirm horror. You have come to see if a pole of dried fish was missed, if a conical granary lies undetected, if an amphora of paga, buried in the sand, was overlooked."
. . .
"One came before as you," he said, "days ago, seemingly, too, of the Merchants. We welcomed him, we regaled him, we entertained him, we shared paga, our maidens danced before him, we showed him hospitality. Two days later, following his departure, they came, with fire and chains. They took even the trinkets, precious to us, for which we had traded."
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 6


He then, head back, greedily downed the last bit of Paga, with a single swallow.
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 38


"Thank you, Noble Master," he said, and, turning about, clutching the coin, staggered toward the paga vat, to the left of the entrance to the tavern, as one would enter.
Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 39
"Master called for paga, did he not?" she asked. Avengers of Gor     Book 36     Page 43