The treasures of Sir Sapphire

Sir Sapphire, The Enlightened III, stared at his treasure. He’d been doing this for hours every day, he was more prone to stare after he’d hunted for food, but it wasn’t like this at first, because of the king’s insistence, his collection of trinkets, jewels, and shiny things had tripled in the few years the king had started this tradition. Servants meticulously arranged everything from floor to ceiling and it covered every inch of the cave. The only place that wasn’t covered was where Sir Sapphire slept, which was instead covered with the finest blanket the kingdom had to offer. The king had originally wanted to gift Sir Sapphire a bed, but he abhorred the idea, so they settled on the blanket. 

His father Sir Sapphire, The Enlightened II was the savior of this small kingdom. This was after the humans had stopped being wary of dragons when they discovered dragons were intelligent creatures. His father had saved them from the war by using his strategic mind and since then the King had given him the title of knight. After his father had lived a very long, long, long life, he went to meet the other dragons in the sky. Sir Sapphire III took over from his father. Helping the kingdom to win wars, or to predict what wars they could or not win. He was called the Enlightened, but it was mostly a sound strategy. He’d battled evil dragons, fought in human wars, and was renowned, loved, and cherished. 

The gift-giving from the king started after Sir Sapphire had lived a very long, long, long time, and had seen generations of kings. But this king was different. He revered Sir Sapphire so much so that he offered his daughter as a sacrifice, but Sir Sapphire refused. That was something the barbarian dragons of old did. And Sir Sapphire was no barbarian. The king then offered his daughter as a bride instead. Again Sir Sapphire declined, he was after all a dragon.

The king, unwilling to let Sir Sapphire be without a gift, bestowed on him gold, diamonds, and any other jewels or shiny things the kingdom could find. At first, Sir Sapphire was worried that the kingdom would lose its wealth, but he soon set his worries aside, the kingdom had an abundance of wealth due to all the wars they’d been on. He relished these gifts more than anything and with no need to go out and find jewels and shiny things, he lived a very long, long, long carefree life. 

But Sir Sapphire soon found himself staring at his collection with an emptiness he’d never before possessed. The kingdom had seen no wars for years, and the king never stopped sending gifts. Neither did the king after him, or the king after that one. In fact, the King’s servants left a few minutes ago after arranging jewels in cramped spaces. 

Maybe it was the thrill of finding these objects himself that Sir Sapphire missed. He could vaguely remember the feel of the wind on his face, the sunlight making his scales shimmer. The anticipation of finding something twinkled at him from the ground below, and him diving to take a look. Disappointment in not finding anything; the excitement of finding something and taking it to the river to clean it, and then taking it home. Sir Sapphire sighed. Indeed, it was the thrill he missed. 

He usually hunted for food, but hunting for food and finding treasure are too different things, and the people wouldn't be alarmed if he flew around either, even though he rarely left his cave, when he occasionally did the people always yelled greetings to him. He was friendly to them and they knew he wouldn't harm them. 

He’d once attempted to ask the king to stop sending gifts but the poor man looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Sir Sapphire never asked again, but his cave didn’t feel like his anymore because the treasure inside was not something he found on his own. It left him listless, and yearning to seek his own.

Sir Sapphire stretched out his wings, making sure not to hit any of his treasure, and cracked his neck this way and that. He paused. His pristine hearing allowed him to hear the children laughing and playing in the town. What if he asked the king to send his gifts to the orphanage instead? Then he would use the orphanage as an excuse to give them his excess. Not only that, but he could also use that opportunity to go hunt for treasure on his own? Sir Sapphire preened with pride at his idea. With a nod to himself, Sir Sapphire made his way to the mouth of the cave, his heavy footfalls making the cave quake. Expanding his lapis lazuli wings, he took flight and headed to the king’s palace.

Sir Sapphire the Enlightened IV looked at his treasure with a long sigh. He remembered how the king sent gifts to his father. But Sir Sapphire the III was not pleased with such an arrangement and suggested that the king send his treasures away to the orphanage. Helping the orphanage was a good idea, but why did he have to give some of the treasure in the cave away as well, and hunt for treasure on his own? Sir Sapphire the IV wanted nothing of this. He liked the fact that the king could send him gifts, and he wouldn’t have to do anything except hunt for food. His father had given away so much that the cave was almost bare except for the few treasures his father had found. Honestly, it wouldn’t be that hard to convince the king to send the treasures to his cave, since the king had probably forgotten why he was sending treasure to the orphanage, to begin with. Sir Sapphire turned away from his meager treasure that filled half a wall and flew out of the cave and towards the palace.