A Small Blackbird Alights on a Windowsill...

....with a roll of paper attached to one leg. His sleek head jerks to and fro, finally stopping with one beady eye pointed directly at you. With a twitch, the bird flicks the roll of paper to the sill, and wings away back through the window.

The paper is bound closed with a twist of white cord, which gives way easily. Inside, scrawled in a neat, even hand is a message:
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To The Citizens Of The Combined Realms:

I was witness last evening to an execution and the ordering of two additional executions, all under the guise of justice. While I do not question King Rory Darkmoon's authority to execute on a whim, it is dangerous to pretend that the course of justice was followed during last night's proceedings.

My first point of contention is that the 'boob from Hamelin', as His Majesty described the ex-Mayor, may not have been acting under his own control. Indeed, perhaps that entire scenario was the result of the Pied Piper experimenting for the first time on an adult subject. With his powers to compel subjects already established, the actions and motives of all those around him should be called into question.

Second, even if Herr Schmidt and Mr. Manycolors' assistant were flagrantly guilty of agreeing to or acting under the guidelines of the abhorrent contract, their testimony to the fact should not have led immediately to their own punishment. In a court of law, of all places, it should have been recognized that self-incrimination does not lead logically to unquestioned guilt. Those gentlemen should have been entitled to their own trials, complete with legal defense appropriate to the situation. Granting the 'Pied Piper' the privelege of a trial without offering the same luxury to other alleged criminals makes a farce of the entire justice system.

This is a warning--not to His Majesty Rory Darkmoon only, but to the entire populace. The road that we set down last evening leads to tyranny and repression. The true way is that of honest and fair justice, equally offered to all. Insist on this. Shed blood for it if need be.

Signed,
A Humble Observer