With a knot in my throat I passed from the sunlight of the courtyard into the gloom of the gateway, and out again beyond, upon the drawbridge.

Our hooves thudded briskly upon the timbers, and then with a sharper note upon the cobbles beyond.
I was outside the walls of the castle for the first time.

Before me the long, rudely paved street of the borgo sloped away to the market-place of the town of Mondolfo.

Beyond that lay the world, itself--all at my feet, as I imagined.
The knot in my throat was dissolved.

My pulses quickened with anticipation.