In a bizarre twist of events, Callo falls into the Cavern of the Righteous and emerges elsewhere, from a forgotten cave. His leg is still broken, but Mishami carries him into an impressive land full of both sublime beauty and vicious horrors. The fourth Companion arises and starts training. June is traveling with a group of people as different from one another as snowflakes, and Jray drags June into fighting warriors for money. Diamond who is cursed, compliments of Seamus and Gema, must choose between a life of loneliness or dangerous love. Kara discovers her true identity as the Red Companion during a brief sojourn with the Dragon Warriors. And one of Karl's Gifted almost gets murdered by a creature who used to be Gallo. The Blue, Red and Black Companions are all on their way to the Castle. However, bounty hunters, Destroyers, demons, Hagos, and Creepers sent by Klastos hunt them down, and go into fiery battle. In the meantime, Opal, Wagner and Pop Tolenko must perform a Rite of Unity to evade soldiers, and Ethos demands that Uhna betray her husband or die under the Athany curse. In this third book of the series, lives are lost, new allies join the Companions and Magi, and they are trapped in a web of terror woven by the impending civil war between the Falesto brothers. The lives of all races in the Empire are teetering on the edge of destruction, and the Gifted Magi must unite before the Falestos' plots to transform all non-humans into walking demons to fight the expansion battles become a reality. Clashes of Wills is the third book in the Assembly of Thirteen series where the magic of the few with honor repeatedly clash with the cruelty of the wills of those in power.