Tamporlea (Tamporlea Trilogy, Book 1)

by Tiffany Lovering

  She laughed and said, “I’m pretty sure this is sleeping in to Orion.”

  “What time is it?”

  “7:00.”

  “This is crazy. I don’t even get to sleep. Well when I get to wherever I am going, I’m sleeping in every stinkin‘ day,” I said as I grudgingly sat up and rubbed my eyes until they’d stay open. “What are you laughing at?”

  “You! You are actually sounding your age right now. I don’t think that’s ever happened.”

  “Well, when you wake someone up at o’dark thirty, what do you expect?”

  “Jazz, it’s not dark.”

  “I know! It’s just a stupid saying that means way too freakin’ early!”

  “C’mon, I’ve got coffee for you.”

  I slowly dragged myself out of the tent behind my mother and found my way to the chair in front of the fire. Even Casper was too tired to greet me, he just peeked at me before falling back to sleep. Mom handed me a cup of instant coffee and sat next to me.

  “So guess what.”

  “Hmmm?” I grunted.

  “I talked to Orion last night, and he said it would be fine if you wanted to bring Casper with you.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Awww, so you told him I was going? I wanted to wait.”

  “No I didn’t tell him. I said if you chose to go.”

  “I can really take Casper?”

  “Yes.”

  “But I can’t take him away from you. That would be cruel.”

  “Jasmine, don’t be ridiculous. You know he’s been your dog since we picked him out. Besides, I‘ve got Jinx,” she said referring to our cranky cat.

  “You sure you don’t care?”

  “Well, I’ll miss him, but I think you might feel more comfortable if you had him with you. Well, if you’re leaving, we better get this all packed up. I expect Orion will be back soon.”

  It was mostly quiet as we packed up our camp site. I could tell my mom wasn’t exactly jumping for joy that I was leaving her, even if was for just a week. When Orion came back, he had muffins for my mom and me. When I told him that I would go with him, he didn’t look surprised, or pleased. He just nodded and said, “Okay then.” It was obvious that this was going to be such a fun hike.

  After mom and I finished our modest breakfast, we all packed the Land Rover. Orion left me alone with my mother to say goodbye. She was already crying when she pulled me into a hug.

  “I love you so much Jazzy. Take care of Casper.” She pulled out of the hug and looked at me with intense eyes, “Promise me that you won’t forget how much I love you and how proud I am of you.”

  “Mom, stop it’s only…”

  “Promise?” she interrupted.

  “Pinky Swear.” We linked pinkies in a sacred promise we’d done since I was little, before hugging one last time. “Love you mom.”

  “Love you more.”

  When she released me, she jumped into the car still crying. There was nothing I could do to make either of us feel better so I called for Casper and we started up the trail to where Orion stood beneath the trees. Before I actually reached Orion, he turned around and started to walk.

  He was too far ahead to have a conversation with him and whenever I tried to catch up with him, he would speed up, keeping his distance. This was really beginning to irritate me. It was obvious that for whatever reason, he was doing his best to avoid me. Wasn’t it him who said that hiking would give us a chance to talk?

  “Orion!” I yelled, “How long is this hike going to be?”

  “We’ll be there before dark!” he yelled back without even turning around.

  Great, an all day hike with someone who didn’t want to talk. I wondered if I could find my way back to the campsite on my own. We’d only been walking for about 20 minutes in a northeast direction, it wouldn’t be too hard to go back. However, mom was surely gone from the site by now and there was no cell reception so I’d have to hike another 15 miles to the nearest town to use a payphone. Then I’d have to somehow not look like a whiny brat when I explained to my mom that Orion didn’t want to talk to me. I grudgingly decided to continue to follow Orion to Tampor…Tam…wherever we were going.

  Casper followed faithfully by my side, eager to hike. He’d been going hiking with me since he was just a puppy. Every time I would get my hiking shoes out he would get really excited and circle around where I stood, waiting impatiently for me to open the door. We’d go out for hours in the woods behind my house and he loved it. On really warm days, he would jump in the streams and I’d watch him play and take pictures of him.

  Dad was the one who really got me into hiking. Every weekend after the snow melted, we would go through our book of New York hiking trails and pick a new adventure, or go to our favorites. Mom would sometimes go with us but I think she really liked the idea of father-daughter time. He used to tell me stories of when he was a kid or the times he’d take a day off of medical school on a perfect hiking day. Casper didn’t wasn’t nearly as conversational, but it was still nice to go hiking with him.

  Mom and I adopted Casper just a few months after my dad passed away. We went to the local animal shelter and saw this little white ball of fuzz sleeping in the corner, ignoring the commotion of barking and jumping dogs all around him. When I picked him up and he licked my face, I knew that he was my dog. The lady at the shelter said that he was abandoned on the side of the road in front of the shelter just a few days before. The vet couldn’t pinpoint what type of mix he was exactly, but thought he had at least some Yellow Lab in him, but I didn’t see where except his size.

  When I noticed that Orion was slowing down, I sped up to meet him, but didn’t say anything. I just followed by his side waiting for him to speak.

  “I think we should stop for some lunch. There’s a small clearing up ahead that I think would be a good spot,” Orion said.

  When we reached the clearing, he set his pack down and took out a small camp stove. As the small flame of the canned fuel was warming up the burner, he pulled out a stainless steel thermos, removed the top and set it over the flame to warm its contents. I wanted to ask what was inside, but I was being stubborn and wasn’t going to talk unless he did. Instead, I poured some water into Casper’s bowl and pet him as he slurped it down until it was nearly gone. I set a handful of his food on the ground next to the bowl of water in case he decided he was hungry, but he opted to curl into a ball and relax.

  “I hope you like vegetable soup,” Orion said as he passed me a bowl.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  As I took my first bite, he handed me a small roll that had a firm, hearty texture. I dipped it into the soup and took a bite. The soup was thick and had some different herbs that gave the tomato base a nice flavor. The soup was obviously homemade, as was the bread.

  “This is really good,” I commented.

  “I’m glad you like it. I had it made before I left. I know it’s a little warm outside for soup, but it keeps the best.”

  We ate the rest of our food in silence and as we cleaned up he whistled an unfamiliar tune. When everything was packed away, he sat back down next to me.

  “I hope you don’t mind taking a bit of a rest. Just a few more minutes anyway. I don’t move quite as fast as I used to.”

  I laughed and said, “You certainly weren’t lacking in speed up to this point.”

  “Was I going too fast for you?”

  “No, I was just surprised you said you don’t move as fast as you used to.”

  “Well, maybe I can keep a decent pace, but it’s not as easy as it used to be,” he said correcting his earlier statement.

  I hesitated for a moment and decided to force a conversation I knew he’d rather avoid. “Orion, where are we going?”

  “Tamporlea,” he answered simply.

  “I know that, and I heard you talk about big beautiful garden and you told me all the food is homegrown, you even touched on the fact that there’s magic at
this place. What I don’t understand, is why am I going there?”

  “Miss Jasmine, I really can’t tell you all the details. I’m really sorry,” he said genuinely.

  “What about the magic?”

  “Well, I can tell you that magic is really the whole soul of Tamporlea. It’s kind of what makes our community work so smoothly.”

  “What kind of magic?”

  “There are many different kinds. One group I can tell you about is the Healers. They keep us healthy and they can heal many different types of wounds in a blink of an eye. I would have to say that healing is one of the most amazing things to see.”

  “How does it work?”

  “I wish I could tell you.”

  “Why can’t you? I’m just curious.”

  “Oh, I know. If I could tell you I would. Magic isn’t something we create, it’s something we’re born with. There’s no explaining it.”

  “What about the spell you said you put on my mom?”

  “Miss Jasmine, I assure you, the spell I used on your mother was for Tamporlea’s protection and it was used with your mother’s permission.”

  “I’ve gotta be honest with you, it all kind of sounds like a cult in a way. I mean, a bunch of people with the same beliefs, living a secret life far away from civilization. Although I can‘t imagine my mom sending me off to stay with cult.”

  Surprisingly, Orion laughed at my conclusion and said, “Not even close. I can see how it does seem that way but, that’s not it at all.”

  “Can you explain it to me then? I mean why is there a hidden community that no one knows about?”

  “We better get going,” he said as he got up. He offered me his hand to help me up, which was cold despite the warm weather. I called Casper who hesitated before getting up out of an obviously comfortable position. “If you can keep up, I will tell you a bit about Tamporlea’s history,” Orion joked.

  I made sure I was right by Orion’s side once I had my pack on and was ready to keep pace with him. We started hiking in the same direction we’d been going all day. The forest was starting to get thicker and the trail wasn’t as pronounced anymore, but it was clear that Orion knew exactly where he was going.

  “We’ve got about another three hours. Let me know if you need a break.”

  “I’ll be ok,” I said confidently.

  “Alright, well, I guess I should start with what we are. Technically we are Gypsies.”

  “Like the fortune-telling kind?”

  “No Miss Jasmine, it’s a little more complicated than that. What do you know about Gypsies?”

  “Not much to be honest. I know that when I used to act silly, my dad used to say he was going to sell me to the Gypsies. The one thing I know about Gypsies is that they are fortune-tellers and they used to scam people to make ends meat because most of them were frauds.”

  “Gypsy history dates back as far as 1000 AD when we first appeared in the Middle East. We mainly lived by using our minds, I guess you could call us ‘street-smart’ in today’s terminology. We gave ourselves titles that basically meant nothing but we were able to use our wit to convince people that we were powerful people.

  “The fortune-telling thing really started in Europe when Martin V was elected Pope in 1417. Many of them were frauds but what the Gypsies were presenting, scared the people. The fortune tellers would often get more goods or money from the people by telling them a bad fortune and offering a solution to their fictional problem.”

  “Geez, they sound quite pleasant,” I said sarcastically.

  “It was just a way to survive I think. The interesting thing was that there were a few Gypsies who had real powers. They were actually banished from their own tribe and sent off to make their own way. The Gypsies were just as afraid of real magic as anyone else. One very powerful woman, Syeira, who hid her powers from her tribe, had a strong vision that their whole community was going to burn down. She decided to warn everyone but no one would believe her, not even her own family. So at dusk, she set off into the wilderness on her own. When she made it to the top of the largest hill, she looked back at her town which she could see burning from where she stood. Overcome with grief, she swore she would live on the hill until her death.

  “What Syeira didn’t know at the time was that there was someone who listened to her warning. A boy her age named Jal had followed Syeira into the night. When Jal met up with Syeira, she insisted that she had no powers and that the vision of the fire was the only experience she’d ever had like that. He didn’t believe her and even showed Syeira his own powers to try to persuade her confess her own.

  “They lived off the land and totally abandoned any thoughts or practices that their Gypsy family had taught them. Eventually, Jal and Syeira proclaimed their love for one another but Syeira was still afraid to show Jal her powers. She stayed true to her word of not using her powers for ten years.

  “Jal went into the countryside to try to sell the goods he made by simple magic, baskets, some tools and some jewelry. He was to be gone for three days, leaving Syeira on her own. While he was away, Syeira felt the magic that had built up for so long inside of her. She couldn’t hold it in any longer and so she chose to do something for her one true love.

  “She created the kingdom of Tamporlea, which is impossible to describe and actually give it justice. You will see when we get there. When Jal came back and saw what Syeira had done, he fashioned her a crown of jade, emerald and platinum and stated that she was the High Priestess of Tamporlea.”

  “Wow,” I said truly amazed at this story. “So how did they come up with the name Tamporlea?”

  “It is a combination of the names of two different Gypsy colonies they had once belonged to. Although they had abandoned the traditional practices, they still wanted to pay homage to where they came from because that is where they had gotten their magical abilities.”

  “Do you consider yourselves Gypsies?”

  “There’s no denying where you came from. It is what it is and there’s no changing the history, but that’s about as far as it goes for us. Basically we are Gypsies in name only.”

  “Is Tamporlea the only kingdom?”

  “No, there are two others that we know of because they were created by people who came from Tamporlea originally. There’s Jarnay which is ruled by King Zane and Pyrencia which is ruled by a Queen named Aella. I suppose there could be more, but we don’t know of any.”

  “If Tamporlea is a kingdom, is there a King and Queen?”

  “There has never been a King. When Jal saw the magnitude of Syeira’s powers, he thought she should have all of the credit for Tamporlea. A lot more went into the decision to only have a Queen, but that is where it stemmed from.”

  “Will I be able to meet the Queen?” I asked excited.

  “No. Unfortunately Queen Holly passed away almost a year ago and we have yet to choose a new Queen.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “We’ll be able to see Tamporlea just over this hill,” Orion said.

  “Really? I thought you said it would be another few hours before we get there.”

  “It is, but at least you’ll be able to see where we’re headed.”

  “How are you able to keep this place so secret?”

  “Well, all the necessary people know about it. The land was purchased and rightfully belongs to us. We never wanted it to be on the map, and because we are set so far away from civilization, the government never put it on the map. It is protected by a few enchantments so the entrance can only be seen by those who have been invited by someone from Tamporlea, no one can just stumble across it.”

  When we reached the top of the hill we were climbing, Orion stopped and pointed to a small mountain off in the distance. “That’s Tamporlea over there.”

  Now that we could see it, I wanted to get there as soon as possible. It felt like a tease seeing it right in front of us, but knowing we wouldn’t be able to touch it for another couple hours.

  “Once we
reach the bottom of this hill, it’s pretty flat all the way to Tamporlea. It’s an easy hike the rest of the way. Be careful going down, the rain washes out this hill pretty bad sometimes.”

  I concentrated on taking my time going down and not sliding. It wasn’t too bad since it had been dry for the past week or so. When we reached the bottom, Orion stopped again and said, “Miss Jasmine, welcome to Tamporlea.”

  “What?” I asked confused.

  “We own everything from this corner all the way to the opposite side of Tamporlea’s palace. This is technically the start of the kingdom.”

  “Really?” For the first time since hearing about Tamporlea, I was excited. Not just curious but actually excited and energized to see what we were headed for. “There’s a palace?”

  Orion laughed and said, “Just wait and see.”

  As we continued on, I thought about the palace. I imagined a beautiful mansion at the top of the hill that I couldn’t see from where we were. Servants to take care of the Queen’s every need. I wondered if I would be allowed to see the inside of the palace or if it was restricted to the Queen. The trees weren’t as close together and I saw a gravel road that headed toward Tamporlea. I had too many thoughts going through my head to carry on a coherent conversation with Orion, so we walked in silence.

  The rest of the hike went by too slowly. Although we had been walking all day long, this last hour seemed to stretch out forever. Soon, the field turned into crops where men were working to turn the soil or harvest the produce. They all watched as Orion and I passed by them but no one said a word.

  “Look there,” Orion said.

  Where he pointed only about twenty feet in front of us was twovery large doors set into the hillside. I sped up my pace and as we got closer, I saw that the door was decorated with elaborate carvings of different plants and trees and there was a large calligraphy T in the middle with a circle of grape vines around it, just like the medallion I was wearing. We had finally arrived to Tamporlea.

  Chapter 4

  Red, Black & Blue

  Orion opened the door and allowed me to enter in front of him. The corridor was beautiful with floors of what appeared to be white marble and mahogany pillars that were carved with designs that mimicked the door. Considering we had entered a cave, I was amazed at how light it was inside, it was as though they had their own sun within the mountain.